What I Would Do For You
by Jessikur
Summary: Naruto has been feeling quite lonely and sick of life. Then, he is given a mission to retrieve an antique for Tsunadae with Hinata. The two of them get into some trouble, and Hinata sees Naruto's hidden power- Kyuubi's chakra. Will she accept him? NaruHin
1. Chapter 1

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A/n: This is probably the longest chapter I've written as of right now (it's 12 whole pages! That's really impressive for me, okay? lol). I've been working on this story for awhile (actually, I started it months ago then completely forgot about it, but whatever XD), so I'm glad to finally get it posted- or at least, the first chapter. Actually, it started as a one-shot, but I didn't want it to be insanely long or anything and group it into one chapter, so I made it like this instead. I don't know how many chapters it will have as of right now, but I'm thinking three. That will probably change. XD

Also, this doesn't really take place in any particular time frame, but I guess you can say it's after all that Sasuke-chaos stuff. Haha(:

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Warnings: Mentions of other random couples, though it's nothing too big. Sorry if you don't like the pairings I threw in, but they aren't extremely important anyways(: Also, the corny title and OOCness, of course(:

Anyways, please enjoy!

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What I Would Do For You

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Crystal Blaize

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It was morning, though the sun was not shining cheerfully, nor were the birds singing their morning songs. The sky was gray and cloudy, as if it was going to rain at any moment. The air was chilly, and folks that lived in the town of Konoha found themselves bundled up in the middle of a normally warm spring.

As Uzumaki Naruto wondered around the town of Konoha that morning, he couldn't help but notice how happy everyone seemed. Even with the gray, cloudy skies that threatened rain, the people of the leaf village were all very happy and joyous, as if something wonderful had happened in all of their lives. Naruto felt as though he was the only person not fitting into this equation, which was- of course- typical, he thought.

Lately, the young ninja hadn't been feeling himself. Throughout his entire life, no matter how upset or alone he was, he had always tried to be in good spirits. He was always loud and boisterous, and he loved to laugh and goof around. But recently things had been different for the blonde boy; he was lonely. Sure, he had been lonely before, especially as a child, but he had never felt loneliness like this before. The feeling gnawed at his stomach and made him feel empty inside, even when he was surrounded by his friends. When he was a child, he latched onto his friends, especially Iruka, when he was in these times of need, but now it didn't seem enough for him, and Naruto had the hardest time figuring out why this was. But when he finally did realize the truth, everything seemed obvious- he wanted someone to love.

In the last few years of his teenage era, Naruto had been a spectator to all of his friends finding partners, or were at least on their way to it. Like Ino and Shikamaru, who couldn't keep their hands off of each other, which really bothered Naruto. It seemed as though, to him, that there was no one for him that he could possibly love, and it was driving him crazy.

Sighing as he thought about this, the blonde teen turned the corner, walking past shops and restaurants where people laughed and talked with one another. Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground, trying his best to ignore the cheery atmosphere. Besides, he had work that needed to be done; there was no time for celebrations and merrymaking.

Almost at his destination, Naruto accidentally bumped into a girl about his age, and he was so lost in his thoughts that he did not even notice who it was at first. But when he saw her petite- and now red- face, he instantly knew who it was.

"Gomen, Hinata! Gomen!" he said to the girl with a blush, then ran off into the building in front of them, leaving the girl named Hinata behind with an odd look upon her small face.

As Naruto ran, he ignored everything around him, embarrassed for running into the girl because he was too busy thinking depressing thoughts about how lonely he was. Running up the stairs, he swallowed down the large lump in his throat, choking down a sob that threatened to come out. He was here for business; it was not the time to feel sorry for himself. He was sick and tired of feeling bad about himself anyways. And finally, when he got to do a mission (which he had wanted for awhile, since he had nothing better to do), he was moping and acting all emotional over something silly. Really, Naruto thought, he just needed to focus. He would be okay.

Finally, Naruto reached the top of the stairs, and he quietly walked to the doors at the end of the hall. When he knocked on those doors, he heard the woman inside calling him in. Hesitantly he entered, making sure he was calm enough to face another person.

"Ohayo, baa-chan," Naruto said when he entered, putting on a half-assed smirk. He was back to his old self, and no one would notice what he was really hiding behind that smirk, even if it looked fake. No one would ask.

"Hello, brat," the woman Naruto had spoken to answered. She beckoned him to her and he obeyed, running his calloused hands through his blonde hair. When he was standing at her very large desk stacked with paperwork, she said to him, "I have a mission for you. I need you to retrieve something for me."

He grinned at her, actually somewhat excited for the news. He needed to get out for awhile. But if it was as simple as it sounded already, he may have to go all alone. He dreaded that; he was sick of being alone all the time. Then again, if he had to go alone, he wouldn't have to go with Sasuke-teme or Kiba, who would annoy him more then anything else. But honestly, it was company that Naruto needed, no matter how annoying they were.

Thinking about Sasuke and Kiba just hurt him further. Sure, Kiba was single, but he always bragged about how girls gushed over him. Whether it was true or not, Naruto did not know or care, but all of his friends listened intently as if it was the most important thing in the world, which really bothered Naruto. And then there was Sasuke, the biggest bastard Naruto knew. Naruto believed deeply that Sasuke was the dumbest person alive as well; a wonderful girl was in love with him, and Sasuke was too stupid to realize how lucky he was to have her. Though they were not dating, Naruto could see that Sasuke and his other best friend Sakura would eventually be together, or else Sakura would just die. She loved him that much.

He mentally sighed. Naruto had really liked Sakura-chan in the past, but she had been so stuck on Sasuke that it didn't even matter. She did everything in her power to help him, and Naruto stood back and watched as she did so. It pained Naruto to see Sakura care that much for someone so mean, but things started to change as they all got older. At least Sasuke wasn't so rude to her now, and it seemed as though he actually enjoyed her company at times.

The fact that Sasuke was less lonely then he was bothered Naruto even more then anything else. One would think that with their personalities, Naruto would never have the feeling of being alone. He was too energetic and friendly to have to feel that way, but he still did. If only there was someone out there for him to be with- someone to truly love him.

"Naruto, baka! Listen to me," Tsunadae yelled, interrupting the other blonde from his thoughts. "You'll need a partner. I sent her out to get something for me, so I'm assuming she'll be back soon. I never would have guessed you'd be on time for once, brat."

"Be quiet, Tsunadae baa-chan!" he exclaimed, plopping down into one of the chairs in front of her desk. He was relieved to hear that he had a partner who was a girl; it counted out Sasuke and Kiba. He only hoped it wasn't Sakura, for she would probably talk about Sasuke the entire time. Or Ino, actually. Naruto was _not _in the mood to hear about how often she and her boyfriend make out a day. He grimaced at the mere thought of it.

A few seconds later, the doors to Tsunadae's office opened again and a short girl walked in, a faint blush on her cheeks. It was Hinata, Naruto noticed, and he once again felt embarrassed. Hopefully she had gotten over him running into her, for he did not want to be teased about it. But as Naruto thought this, he knew Hinata would never make fun of him; she was far too kind, especially to him. That thought made him feel slightly better, and a small smile crept up on his face without him even noticing.

"Ah, Hinata! Sit, sit," Tsunadae said, grabbing on of the many papers that were on the desk.

Hinata sat next to Naruto and whispered a 'h-hello,' to him before giving her full attention to the woman in front of her. Naruto did not, though; he was too busy noticing how shiny Hinata's dark blue hair was, and he longed to touch it, even if only for a second.

"Baka! Are you even listening?" Naruto heard Tsunadae saying to him. He must have been in a daze while staring at the girl next to him, which she seemed to notice; a very dark blush was painted across her cheeks.

"Gomen, baa-chan," he said softly, not in the mood to try and play it off.

Hinata gave him an odd look, but didn't ask him about it. Instead she said, "So where are w-we t-to go, Hokage-sama?"

"To the Bird Country. The antique I want you two to get for me is located there. There may be some trouble on the way, though; there might be other shinobi looking for the same object."

"What are we supposed to get?" Naruto asked, even though he knew she had probably already explained this.

Tsunadae rolled her eyes and showed him a picture. "This is what I want. I know it doesn't look like much, but this medallion can be very powerful when it is together with other medallions. We posses a few of them already, so having this one will only help. Oh, and you should keep this picture."

Naruto stood and took the picture, already wanting to leave for the mission. He was ready.

"Not so fast, brat. You'll leave tomorrow morning. Make sure to pack food and everything; I know how you eat," Tsunadae told him.

He nodded at her with an eye roll, folding the picture and putting it in his pocket. "I'm going, then. We'll meet at the gate tomorrow, okay, Hinata?"

Hinata nodded, standing as well. "Sounds good t-to me, Naruto-kun."

"Good luck, you two. Don't die or anything. I don't feel like dealing with that."

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The next morning, Naruto felt somewhat better then he had the day before, even with the little amount of sleep that he got. The sun was shining faintly behind thin cirrus clouds, and Naruto felt himself smiling about the good weather. Hopefully the weather would be nice throughout his entire mission with Hinata-kun.

Wait. Hinata-_kun_? Since when did he call her that?

Ignoring the thought, the blonde teen rolled out of bed and headed towards the bathroom to take a quick shower. He stripped off his pajamas on the way there, leaving the discarded clothing on the floor behind him. In the bathroom naked, he turned on the water, letting it warm up before finally stepping in.

The warm pellets of water falling onto his back always soothed him, no matter how achy, miserable, or tired he was. He let the droplets soak him completely for a few moments before quickly washing himself, preparing to not have a good bath in a few days. Rivers just didn't cut it for Naruto, but he never complained; it was just another thing you had to deal with as a ninja.

Turning the shower off, Naruto shook his head to get rid of loose water and then he stepped out into the steamy room. Grabbing a towel, he walked over to the mirror and cleared it off to look at his reflection. The teen staring back at him looked miserable; dark circles were under his dull blue eyes, and his mouth was fixed into a frown. His hair stuck to his skin, making him look like a wet dog, and he crinkled up his nose in disgust. He shook his head again, rubbing his towel through his hair to dry it. He then looked at himself in the mirror, his hair now standing up in odd places like it usually did. No improvement there.

Sighing, he ignored his reflection and brushed his teeth quickly, then grabbed the necessary things out of the bathroom that he needed to take with him on the mission. He walked into his small bedroom and dressed quickly, shoving things into his bag as he put on his shirt and jacket. Then he went to the kitchen to get food, eating and packing at the same time, running around to put on his sandals. Finally he was ready, and he headed out the door to meet Hinata at the gate.

Naruto ran the whole way, already very late. He ignored everyone around him, not caring if anyone said hello or not, though he knew no one would anyways.

As the blonde predicted, Hinata was already waiting just outside the gate. She was staring at the clouds, obviously lost in her own little world. Naruto slowed to a walk and watched her as he approached their meeting spot, admiring how adorable she looked at that moment. When he was only a few steps away from her, she looked at him gently, making his cheeks become a light shade of pink.

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun," she said in a soft, soothing voice.

"Morning, Hinata," he said in reply, trying not to blush again. "Ready to go?"

She smiled and nodded, beginning to walk away from the village hidden in the leaves.

Naruto walked next to her, and they were quiet for a very long time. But for once, Naruto didn't feel awkward in the silence. He felt comfortable just walking with Hinata, no talk was needed. He couldn't tell if she was feeling awkward, though, but he doubted it; Hinata was always a quiet girl.

Soon enough, the two ninjas reached the edges of the forest. Walking into it quietly, Naruto said, "We can run in here. When one of us gets tired, we'll rest. Don't feel bad if you get tired first."

He knew Hinata wouldn't speak up if she was tired or hurt; she had done it before on missions they had together, but she didn't argue with him. Her answer was a short nod, and then they took off running through the trees.

Hinata stayed ahead of Naruto, which he didn't mind. It allowed him to let his mind wander and follow her so that he didn't get lost. He found himself thinking about Hinata, but he told himself it was only because she was there with him. Sighing, Naruto realized that maybe he wasn't the only person out of his friends that were alone. Hinata and Shino were two examples, though Naruto doubted that either of them felt the stabbing pain of loneliness every single day, for they were constantly surrounded by family and sometimes friends.

Naruto had told himself to get over the feeling many, many times in his life. Ever since he was young people ignored him, so he was used to the fact that he was not the most liked person in Konoha. But, he thought, at least those people had a reason for hating him: Kyuubi. Almost all of his friends, on the other hand, did not know about the demon fox. So why did he feel abandoned from them sometimes?

The blonde supposed that what he really needed was a relationship with someone who actually cared about him, not a random girl that Jiraiya would pick out on one of their "researching" moments for Naruto to be with for the night. At first, he thought that he would be able to find a nice girl to settle down with, but the kind of girl that his sensei liked were far from nice. He was sick of being with those ladies; it made him feel worthless and empty afterwards. At least he had enough willpower to refuse the girls, unlike his white-haired sensei. Naruto knew that the ero-sennin would never get sick of being around random, pretty girls, but Naruto also knew that he could never let himself be the same way. He wanted someone to keep in his heart forever.

Thinking about that stuff made Naruto angry at himself for even doing any of it. He vowed never to do anything like that again, unless he really loved the person. No one random.

As he thought about these things, it was becoming dark around them. Hinata slowed down a bit, stopping a few branches in front of Naruto, waiting for him to catch up to her.

He caught up to her in a few seconds, saying, "Tired, Hinata-chan?"

She blushed at the name, biting her lip softly. "N-no, Naruto. I think I heard s-something."

The two of them instantly became quiet, Hinata activating her Byukagan to see if anyone was around them. In a very distant tree, she saw a figure of a man, who she assumed was also a ninja.

"Naruto-kun, look over t-to the right," she said in her soft voice. He compelled, not seeing anything in the darkness.

"I don't see anything. You sure?"

"H-hai, Naruto-kun."

"We'll have to be cautious. Let's keep going, okay?" he said, not really knowing what else to do. He didn't want to be the one to initiate the fight. "We'll stick close."

Hinata nodded, and the two ninja took off again, this time side by side. Naruto noticed how focused Hinata was on her task, and he grinned. She was really a great ninja. A great girl.

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A kunai swept past the pair, almost hitting Naruto's right arm. Suddenly, he and Hinata were surrounded by masked men, seemingly all clones of each other. Hinata automatically activated her Byukagan, focusing her chakra. She had been prepared for the fight, almost anxious for it, and now it was time.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto yelled without hesitation, making seven clones of himself to make it an even match.

The clones attacked one another at once, puffs of smoke going off when one was defeated. Still, Hinata and Naruto could not point out who the real person was. Eventually, all the clones except three of Naruto's were gone, leaving the blonde even more confused and Hinata even more anxious.

Then all of a sudden, Hinata was grabbed. She gave a short yelp and Naruto tried to grasp her hand, but to no avail. The person holding her was indeed the master of the previous clones. He had huge arms and legs, and was very tall, but not in the most attractive sense; he looked like a giant, especially standing there with Hinata. His yellowy skin looked almost diseased, but his face was as strong as ever, set in a stern stance. He held a kunai to Hinata's neck, threatening to kill her if Naruto came any closer.

"It seems as though you're stronger than we thought. For kids, anyways," a voice came from behind Hinata and the man. It was an older woman, slender and beautiful, yet harsh and cruel looking at the same time. She had the palest white skin Naruto had ever seen, and it almost glowed in the moonlight. But he eyes were on the complete opposite side of the color spectrum: they were completely black, as though her pupils were so dilated that they took over the entire iris. Her short hair was black as well, smooth yet sharp, just like the rest of her.

Naruto got ready to fight, his clones disappearing. The woman laughed at him, and suddenly tons of her own clones attacked him. One by one, Naruto would kill a clone, almost bored at the technique since he knew it so well himself. Then, when almost all the clones were gone, he surprisingly threw a kunai towards the man holding Hinata, hitting him right in the forehead. He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'_Another freaking clone?' _Naruto thought, getting angry, suddenly understanding why people got so sick of him using the duplicate technique. But now Hinata was free, and she ran over to join him. But before she got there, the man (neither of them knew if he was yet another clone or the real person this time) attacked her, sending her to the ground.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled, attempting to go after her, but he was stopped in his tracks by the woman. She had run up to him from behind, kicking him full force into a tree about ten feet away.

"Now, now," she said, stepping very close to him. She took his chin in her hands when he tried to get up, making him wince. "You don't want your little girlfriend to get hurt now, do you, sweetheart?"

Naruto almost blushed as she said the word 'girlfriend,' but he held it back. The only thing he said was, "What the hell do you want?" He planned to see why they were attacking, rather then fighting back right away; avoiding fights was always better then risking your life in one. At least, that's what Jiraiya always said to Naruto when he didn't feel like getting into a fight with someone.

"We want what you want, cutie," she answered, her voice smooth in a seductive way. It made Naruto shiver.

The blonde decided not to listen to her and pushed himself away, standing and preparing to fight. Behind him, he heard Hinata cry out in pain, and worry shot through his veins.

The woman attacked him at that very moment, sending him backwards a few feet. He regained himself in only seconds, running back towards her. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he saw that the man was using clones to trap Hinata. He needed to get this woman out of the way and help the blue-haired girl, no matter what it took.

Naruto and the woman ninja fought hard, going back and fourth with tijutsu and various techniques. Naruto, though, had the upper hand; he had seen her jutsus many times before from other ninja, and he therefore evaded them easily.

Seeing an opening, the blonde teen took a swing at her, knocking her into the ground. She was knocked out for the moment, so Naruto ignored her, looking around for his companion. Just incase the woman would wake up, Naruto took a hiding place up in tree, so that he could safely look for Hinata. She was pretty far away from him now, getting beaten by the man who was seemingly stronger then his comrade, but Naruto knew that this was only because the man was on the offensive. Naruto knew how strong Hinata was- so what was this man doing that allowed him to get an advantage?

Then, looking closer, Naruto saw what the man was doing. The technique was so fast that Naruto could barely follow, and he silently thanked some higher being for the fact that Hinata had her Byukagan. It seemed as though the yellow skinned man was shooting something out at Hinata, and it looked like strings of some kind, but Naruto couldn't tell what they were. The man used his clones to do this technique as well, strings flying at Hinata in all directions, and there were so many of them that it was pretty much impossible to dodge them all.

The filaments were a putrid green color and they looked very slimy from were Naruto perched in the tree. As they touched Hinata they grabbed at her skin, cutting into them deeply and it looked at though they burnt her skin as well. The acidic colored threads must have been extremely strong as well; Hinata couldn't break free of them. They were like chains binding her to the ground.

Naruto was so intent on trying to figure out a way to help Hinata that he didn't notice the woman standing under the tree in which he hid. The woman smirked to herself, then she moved her hands in different formations in silence, wanting to surprise her opponent.

"Zankuuha no jutsu!" she yelled, blasts of air waves coming out from her hands. Naruto flew backwards, smacking his head on the tree, and with her hands, she pushed him out of it, making him fall and a loud _thunk!_ Naruto laid next to her on the ground on his back, wincing at the pain.

"I'm not done with you, brat," she spat at him, making his nose wrinkle in disgust.

Naruto stood slowly, glaring at the woman. Her piercing coal eyes boar into him, and Naruto found himself getting very sick of this whole ordeal. He got ready to fight her again, crouching down into a defensive position. Then, he heard his comrade cry out in pain. Hinata was in trouble, and this stupid bitch was in his way…

Hearing the blue-haired girl's cry for the second time, Naruto suddenly became very angry. Staring at the cruel woman in front of him his teeth barred, forming into the shape of fangs. He growled, running towards her, not seeing anything else but that woman. She had a look of fear on her face, but she didn't back down.

"BITCH!" Naruto roared at her, a tail of red chakra coming behind him. Fear was painted all over the woman's face as the blonde charged at her, and because of this she was way too slow to react to his punches. He knocked her into a tree that was at least 20 feet away from them, but the woman was still conscious (which really annoyed Naruto), ready now to fight back with the supercharged boy.

She ran towards him, her short black hair whipping behind her. With her hands she made several shapes and signs while she was running, preparing to use her best technique against her opponent. Finally, when she was ready, she stopped and screamed into the air, piercing the blonde's ears.

He growled at her, but she took no notice as she yelled, "Tornado of Fire!" and a huge whirlwind of ember released from her body shooting towards Naruto. The force of the wind would be enough to knock someone off of their feet, but Naruto stood completely still, not even phased by the strong forces.

The woman pushed the tornado with all her might, while Naruto just stood there, making no attempt to block the attack, which worried the woman slightly. What the hell was he planning?

With a large blast, the tornado made contact with Naruto, but no screams of agony were heard. Actually, the only sound that was heard was a _poof!_ noise that the woman couldn't identify. When the smoke of the fire tornado died away, her opponent was nowhere to be seen.

Then, all of sudden, the woman felt a force push into her back so heavy that she could no longer breathe. Turning her head as much as she could, she saw Naruto standing behind her with a devilish smirk on his face and she could see his fangs slipping out from his mouth. His hands were glowing bright blue and they were shoved into her back, right where she had felt the most pain of the sneak attack. Turning her head back forward, she fell to her knees and let herself slowly drop to the ground.

Naruto was panting hard from his last attack, but he knew there was no time for rest. He needed to help his comrade. Looking around, he saw her and the man fighting still. Hinata was doing a better job then before, and it seemed as though she was starting to get the hang of the strings he was using. But just as Naruto debated on letting her finish the fight, the man got her with five strings at once, making her cry out in agony. He couldn't wait any longer, Naruto decided, shaking his head in effort to clear it.

Leaving her body behind, Naruto ran towards Hinata and the other ninja. Red chakra flowed around him in his anger and he no longer cared about anything else except saving Hinata. Said girl was currently on the ground with the man about to strike her yet again with his spider-like strings, not even giving her the chance to get up.

With another explosion of power, Naruto rammed into the bulky man from the side, sending him backwards. Naruto could already tell that this man was stronger then the ninja he had already fought because of the force that hit had needed. Then, the blonde ran over to Hinata, ripping apart the filaments that surrounded her. He winced slightly as he felt the acid burning into his skin, but he just ignored it, using all of his might to rip them off of her. It was unfortunate that she had so many of them on her; there was definitely going to be scaring on her pale skin, which only made Naruto more frustrated.

Hinata stood slowly after Naruto freed her, joining him to begin battle again. But something was a lot different from him this time; red chakra was emerging from his body, his nails were a lot longer, and his eyes a darker shade of blue to where they were almost black. The sight scared her for a moment, but then the feeling disappeared; he had saved her with this technique and she was grateful. But what was this chakra? She had been on quiet a few missions with Naruto and never once had she seen him use this technique. But maybe that was because others had been there to help, too. Maybe he hadn't needed it.

Then again, he may not have needed this technique now either, Hinata thought. She could have figured out a way to beat the man, but she knew she needed Naruto's help anyways; he was surrounding her with those strings so much that for everyone one she broke, ten more came at her. But even still, Naruto could have done any other technique, not this scary looking one.

Hinata stopped thinking about it; the jumbled theories were confusing her too much. Besides, their enemy was getting up, preparing to fight with them again.

"I'll finish it off, Hinata," Naruto said, his voice sounding gruff and agitated.

Before she could protest, he ran off towards the man, punching him right in the stomach. He keeled over and blood sprayed out of his mouth, tainting his yellowy skin and making it look even more diseased. Naruto then kicked him in the head, sending the man backwards again, but he still wasn't knocked out.

"Hard headed bastard," Naruto mumbled to himself, growling slightly.

He got up after only seconds, making many formations with his hand. He screamed, "Flaming fire jutsu!" and a massive amount of flames flew from his being, straight towards Naruto and Hinata.

Naruto quickly ran over to his comrade, holding her to protect her, making her blush deeply even though he was only doing it to protect her. They crouched down together and the flames blasted Naruto, but to Hinata's surprise, he didn't even flinch. Naruto looked at her, his eyes now turning back into their original blue, to make sure she was okay.

The inferno stopped after a few seconds, leaving Naruto burned and shirtless, and Hinata barely harmed. But as Naruto stood from their previous position, Hinata saw something strange on his stomach. Though it was very faint and seemingly faded, she could make out a weird shape of the sun.

Before the blue-haired girl could take a closer look, the boy turned around, looking for his enemy. The man was still standing where he was before, looking very angry that Naruto easily survived his jutsu.

Without any hesitation, Naruto began fighting again. He yelled, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" creating only three clones, two of which the man did not see. They jumped out from behind him and grabbed him, holding him in place. Naruto and the other clone on the other hand, had been creating his most powerful technique.

"RASENGAN!" the real Naruto screamed, running at the man. The blue sphere in his hand was pelted into his enemy's stomach, making the man scream in pain.

The clones disappeared then, seeing that their work was done. Naruto stood alone, breathless. From behind him, he heard Hinata approaching and he turned slowly, a small smile on his face.

"Are you okay?" was the first thing she asked him, concern filled deeply into her lavender eyes.

He nodded at her, wiping the sweat of his forehead. Looking down at the man, he knew that he was probably dead, but he knew the woman wasn't. So, he said, "We have to go, Hinata-chan. Are you okay?"

She nodded, walking over to his side. "I'm good, N-Naruto," she said quietly.

"Let's go," Naruto said with a smirk, making Hinata realize that he had completely gone back to normal; no fangs, red chakra, or black eyes.

"O-okay, Naruto-kun," Hinata agreed, giving him a shy smile in return. A slight blush crept up on his cheeks as she smiled at him, but he turned his head before she could see him, taking off into the night.

- - - - - -

a/n: I hate fight scenes. Please review(:

Oh, and please ignore my corny names for the jutsus! XD


	2. Chapter 2

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A/n:

Sorry it took as long as it did. And I've even more sorry to say the next one might be a bit longer; I'll be gone all this and next weekend. But I'll try my best to get this done ASAP!

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What I Would Do For You

__

Crystal Blaize

- - - - - -

"We can camp here," Naruto said after a few hours had passed. He could tell Hinata was at her limit, even though she never would have admitted it. She had really been beaten up from that battle, but had insisted on traveling as long as they could. This time, though, the indigo-haired girl did not disagree.

The two slowed down, stopping when they reached a small clearing, pretty secluded in the thick brush around it. It was a good spot to camp, Naruto thought; they were far enough away from where their last battle took place, though he wasn't really worried about anything like that happening right now.

As Naruto looked around the forest, Hinata began to set up camp. Wincing from her burns, she got out some water from her pack and took a long drink of it; her throat had never felt so dry before. Naruto looked at her then, seeing the bad shape she was really in and immediately felt bad for not stopping sooner.

So, he voiced this to her, "Hinata, I'm sorry that we didn't camp sooner. You're really hurt!" Concern was filled in his cerulean orbs as he looked upon her, causing her to blush slightly. Then he said, "I have some medicine in my bag that might help. Go ahead and look for it. I'm going to get some wood."

Then he left without another word, leaving Hinata sitting there alone, nervous in the darkness of the forest. She hoped he hurried back with the wood for a fire; pretty soon the darkness would consume them.

Grabbing the pack that Naruto had previously threw on the ground, she started looking for the medicine the blonde had told her about. It wasn't in the front pocket, for there was nothing but ramen in there (and this almost made Hinata roll her eyes, but then she just giggled instead). In the main compartment, to her embarrassment, was only clothes- including underwear with little pictures of ramen cups on them. Hurriedly, she shoved the boxers back into his rucksack, a deep red blush adorning her face. Lastly, she looked in the side compartment, where two little bottles were. Only one of them were labeled, so Hinata did not want to assume which one was which; the only thing written on the labeled bottle was _'Uzumaki Naruto- take when needed.' _Hinata had no clue what that was for, so she decided to wait for him to come back; she could wait that long.

It didn't take long for the blonde to find some wood, but he took his time anyways; he was too busy ranting to himself. Shaking his head, the blonde teen looked up into the starry night sky, placing his logs down on the ground. He needed a minute to mull things over.

__

'Why the hell had that battle gotten so out of hand?'

was the first thought he had come to mind.

_'It's not like I was fighting some super powerful ninja. They were just kind of normal; amateur! I've seen most of their jutsus before- so why was I so overwhelmed?'_

Then Hinata popped into his mind, how the man she fought outnumbered her with his clones and that strange technique. He had been so distracted by her, that he didn't focus enough on his own opponent. But, even though Naruto always swore to protect his friends, he had never let himself get that distracted before. And to top it all off, he used the Kyuubi's chakra! Naruto hated when things came to that, and deep down he knew, he probably didn't even have to use that extra power; it just happened.

The thought that 'it just happened' scared Naruto a little bit; what if 'it just happened' without Naruto getting angry first? Was the Kyuubi suddenly gaining control over him?

Shaking the thought from his mind, Naruto began pick up his firewood. _'There's no way in hell I'd let that damn fox win over me. Never,'_ he thought, stamping his foot into the ground. And, without another thought about the demon within him, Naruto made his way back to Hinata, who was sitting alone and looking up at the sky just as he was only a minute before.

"Hina-" he began, but stopped when she almost jumped up straight to her feet in fright. He held back a chuckle, then said, "Uh, sorry!"

His grin made Hinata blush crimson, and she just settled herself back down, looking the other direction. Naruto laid his collection of wood on the ground, beginning to set the kindling into a tee-pee formation. Then, he grabbed his pack, looking for the newspaper he had put in there for a fire. He knew not to use leaves; it caused way too much smoke, and would allow others to find them quicker if there were any other ninja in this forest, though Naruto was hoping there weren't any. Then he realized, with much embarrassment, that he had allowed Hinata to go through his bag before telling her where to look. She had probably seen his underwear! He blushed fiercely at the thought, and quickly dug deeper into his bag to look for some matches, not wanting Hinata to see his face.

"Shit. Hinata?" he said, realizing he forgot something, which was typical. His blush was still on his face, though much later then it had been before.

"Y-yeah?" she asked, startled again.

"Do you have any matches or anything? I'm stupid and forget them," he said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I have s-some," she said quietly, digging into her rucksack to look for some. Finding them, she moved forward, stretching out her arm to hand them over. He reached out as well, taking them from her. Their fingers brushed against each other for a moment, causing Hinata to blush. Then, when Naruto looked down to the ground (for he was also blushing from the accidental touch, though Hinata could not see that), the lavender eyed girl said, "You're not stupid, Naruto-kun."

Honestly, Hinata was pretty amazed at herself for not stuttering at him _and _giving him a complement at the same time. When he looked up, there was a small grin on his face that caused her to blush again, and promptly look away from him. He silently gave the matches back to her, already having lit the newspaper on fire.

"Thanks," he said to her, staring into the fire for a moment. Then he asked, "Did you take the medicine?"

"Er, uh…w-well, there were t-two bottles and I d-didn't know which one t-to take," she said nervously, wanting to ask him what the other medicine that wasn't intended for her was, but she wouldn't pry.

"Take the unlabeled one," Naruto said, mentally cursing himself for not getting the bottle himself. "The other one is mine."

"O-okay," Hinata said, opening the bottle and taking out a pill.

"Tsunadae baa-chan made that and gave me a bottle of it for missions. I don't really know what it is, to be honest, but it heals basically everything," Naruto told her, understanding that she was somewhat frightened by the large tan pill.

Hinata nodded, reassured by Naruto's information and took the pill, taking a large gulp of water to help swallow it. She scrunched her nose in disgust because of the foul aftertaste, which made Naruto snigger. She blushed slightly, but then just joined in on the laughing, but only because the boy in front of her was enjoying himself so much. Throughout the entire mission so far, she hadn't really seen him smile too much, and this was actually the first genuine, wholehearted laugh she had heard from him in a long time. Hinata had noticed an obvious change in his behavior, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Her friends didn't seem to notice it as clearly as she did, though, which made her wonder if she was only imagining things. But sometimes he just had a look on his face of pure sadness, which of course made Hinata gloomy as well. She hated when he seemed so down.

"How far away do you think we are, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked after several minutes. He had calmed down pretty quick, but the look on her face was still in the back of his mind, making him grin.

"W-well, maybe another d-day or two, Naruto-kun," she told him, twiddling her thumbs. "We lost a lot of t-time today."

"We did. Man, those guys were bastards!" Naruto said, laying down on the grass, using his pack as a pillow.

Hinata only nodded in return, thinking of the technique that Naruto had used back there to beat her opponent so easily. Sure, the Rasengan most likely would have beaten him anyways, but it was as though Naruto supercharged it with that extra red chakra. The thought of it still frightened Hinata slightly, but only because it made Naruto look like a beast and not like himself. She wanted dearly to ask him about it, but found herself too afraid.

"You fought well, you know," Naruto said, interrupting the girls' thoughts. "If only that bastard hadn't surrounded you."

"Y-yes. Then you wouldn't have h-had to c-come and use th-that technique," she said before thinking. Blushing deeply, she mentally cursed herself for letting that thought slip.

Naruto looked at her, somewhat shocked that she brought it up. He was hoping that she would be too shy to ask, but from her reaction to her own statement, she thought she made an accident by saying something.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a _technique_," Naruto said in a whisper, barely audible about the crackling fire.

Hinata pretended not to hear his whisper, for she knew that he didn't want her to. But, she did say, "Was that t-technique the reason that s-sun was on your ch-chest?"

He looked at her with wide eyes, almost too shocked to answer. "Nani?"

The girl before him blushed, staring at the ground beneath her and whispering, "G-gomen nasai, Naruto-kun. I d-didn't mean t-to pry."

"No, it's okay," Naruto said. "I didn't really think you noticed, that's all. It's… a secret of mine."

Saying this, the blonde was unsure if he should say anything more. Sure, he trusted Hinata completely, but this secret was one so sacred that Naruto wasn't even sure if he'd technically be _allowed _to tell her. But, for some reason, he felt longing to reach out and tell her everything to get it off his chest. He had never told anyone before, and telling Hinata would be a relief to him. Even though she wasn't his very best friend or anything (and honestly, Naruto didn't even know who was), the blonde trusted her with his life, and he knew that she would never repeat the secret information.

"You don't have to t-tell me, Naruto-kun," Hinata said to him. "I understand if y-you don't want t-to."

"No! I want to tell, Hinata. It's just… I've never told anyone this before," he answered, looking down at his calloused hands. He was blushing slightly, feeling embarrassed by the whole situation.

"It's j-just…." Hinata began, blushing yet again. She twiddled her fingers around while she thought, not really knowing how to phrase what she wanted to say. "It's just that I d-didn't want you t-to be hurt. I thought that y-you were hurt."

"I'm fine, Hinata-chan," Naruto said with a cheesy grin. She flushed a cherry red, making him smile wider.

She didn't raise the subject again, but instead enjoyed the silence that had captured them in the night. The only noise heard was the crackling of the fire and the soft chirping of crickets, singing their evening song.

Then, out of the blue, Hinata remembered something. "Uh…Naruto?"

"Yeah, Hinata?"

"I'm going to g-get some more water. I'll b-be right back," she told him, rummaging through her pack to get her canteen.

"Can you fill mine, too?" he asked her, sitting up so that he could grab it. He handed it to her after she nodded in answer, their fingers brushing together for the second time.

"I'll be right b-back!" Hinata said, her cheeks crimson again.

When the blue-haired girl left Naruto sighed, laying back down on the ground. _'I'm so stupid,' _he thought, getting angry all of a sudden. _'I can't believe I let her see that….'_

After a few more minutes that seemed like hours, and about one hundred more sighs, Naruto sat back up, looking into the flames as if they would give him an answer to his problems. "I wish I could tell her about Kyuubi," he said out loud, still staring intently into the fire. "My life would be easier if I could just tell my friends that the Kyuubi is in me… But then again, I probably wouldn't even _have _friends if they all knew."

He had spoken too loudly, he realized, when he saw Hinata standing there with her mouth wide open, obviously shocked at what he had just said. He blushed and quickly looked away from her, not wanting to even know what her reaction would be. And that was definitely not how he wanted her to find out about it!

__

'I'm such an idiot!'

he thought with yet another sigh.

To his surprise, Naruto felt a presence beside him, kneeling at his right side. He still continued to look away from her, but felt instantly relaxed when she put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

Hinata, feeling somewhat brave at the moment said, "I'd still b-be your friend, Naruto-kun."

He looked at her then, his blue eyes staring into her lavender ones, their gaze instantly locking. They looked upon each other for a long moment- with Hinata's cheeks getting redder by the second- and Naruto felt relieved.

"Really? Are you sure you heard what I said?" Naruto asked her, almost too rudely. He blushed after asking her, feeling foolish for being so mean to her after she had shown him so much kindness.

"H-hai…" she answered, suddenly more nervous then ever.

"Gomen, Hinata-chan…. I probably scared you."

"A little, I g-guess," she told him, attempting to sound nonchalant, but the truth was that her stomach was knotting up and she felt like she could scream. The new information had just fully processed in her brain, smacking her into the scariness of the situation. But, no matter what was happening, she would stick by Naruto's side. There was no way that she would abandon him, especially when he was obviously so upset right now. Besides, there was probably a lot Hinata didn't know, so she told herself to calm down until she found out everything, or at least a little bit more.

"Gomen nasai…" he whispered, looking down at the ground. Hinata, without even thinking, grabbed his right hand and squeezed it, making them both blush.

"It's fine," Hinata said softly, surprising herself that she was being so confident at that moment. But Naruto needed her, she could tell. And because of that, she would do anything. It made her feel a lot better that the blonde trusted her enough to tell her this much, even though he hadn't given much detail.

The pair was quiet for a moment, their hands still intertwined, though neither of them made any effort to let go. Hinata felt herself getting somewhat antsy; she really wanted to know more about the boy beside her.

"You know, Naruto-kun….y-you can tell me anything if you want t-to," she said eventually to let him know that she was willing to listen to anything he wanted to say.

"I know, Hinata-chan; I trust you very much," at this, Hinata blushed and looked towards the ground, but Naruto didn't notice and kept on speaking. "It's just that this is all very hard for me to talk about, to be honest. I've never told anyone that I'm the one that is holding Kyuubi. I mean… it's not like I don't want to tell anyone, but you heard what I said before. I don't want my friends to abandon me."

"I would n-never abandon you," Hinata whispered.

"I know you wouldn't," he said with a smile. "That's why I trust you more then most people. You're one of the only people I know that would stick by my side no matter how stupid I'm being or how much danger I'm bringing. Thank you for that."

"Y-your welcome," she said softly, not really knowing how else to answer.

"Please don't tell anyone any of this, okay? I know you won't, but I have to say that anyways," he told her. When she nodded in agreement he said, "Well, the sun thing on my stomach is because when the Kyuubi was sealed in me, that was the seal that was used. Whenever I used Kyuubi's chakra, it shows up on my stomach, but it's faded a lot since when I was younger.

"I've only used Kyuubi's chakra a few times, and it was either when battles got really tough, or I just got really angry," he said with a small blush. "I shouldn't have used it that last time…"

"B-but you saved me, Naruto-kun," Hinata said to reassure him.

Naruto didn't answer her, still looking ashamed of himself. He took his hand away from hers, folding his arms across his chest. Hinata longed to reach out and hold the hurting boy beside her, but felt herself frozen again, too afraid to make any movement.

After a long period of silence, Naruto spoke up again. "Forgive me, Hinata-chan. I never want you to see me like that again. I'm a…._monster_," he said, the last word a broken whisper, his voice cracking slightly. His blue eyes were shining with tears, though he did not let them escape onto his cheeks.

"Oh, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, wanting to hold him so badly her arms twitched. "Y-you are _not _a monster."

Naruto looked at the girl sitting next to him, his blue orbs gazing directly into her eyes. He looked like a sad puppy, beaten and left on the ground with no one to love and take care of him. His eyes did not shine as they usually did, nor was his mouth set in any sort of grin. All at once, the boy's face was just set in sadness, as if he defined the word.

"Thank you," he murmured, looking away. Hinata could tell he was only saying it to be polite; the look on his tanned face showed that he clearly believed he was in fact a monster.

Sighing, Naruto stared into the flames again, not wanting Hinata's sweet whispers to affect him anymore then they already had. Did she honestly believe what she was telling him, or were they just words of sympathy that had no true meaning behind them? Naruto couldn't let himself believe that the girl beside him was being truthful; Kyuubi was a killer, meaning Naruto was too.

But, as that thought went through Naruto's mind, it was instantly thrown away, and the blonde had the sudden urge to laugh at himself for even thinking something like that. Him, a killer? Sure, he had killed many people before, but that's because he was a _ninja_, not because he was a demon fox that _ate _people!

Still, he couldn't help but feel somewhat upset about the whole situation. After all, he had never told anyone any of this before, and it felt as though a huge weight was being lifted off his chest, but the weight was so huge that it overwhelmed him into other crazy emotions. He didn't want to seem so sappy in front of Hinata.

"I'm sorry I got so worked up," he said to her, trying to make up for his previous behavior. "The Kyuubi is a burden that I wish I didn't have, but I can't do anything about it. I understand if you really just hate me and all that, and everything you're saying is just to make me feel better. But if that's what you're doing, don't say anything else; it won't work," The words come out a lot more harsh then he wanted them to be and his voice cracked at every word. He mentally cursed himself for letting someone see him in such a weak state. Why couldn't he use his mask now, with Hinata? He used it for everyone else, so why not now, when he needed it most?

To Naruto's surprise, Hinata did not look the least bit offended by what he had told her. Instead, she said to him, "I could n-never hate you, Naruto-kun, ever. And I'm g-going to stick by y-you no matter what, okay?" Her voice sounded strong as she said this, though inside she felt like butter; his gaze upon her had lasted longer then any other look he had ever given her, and butterflies filled her stomach.

Suddenly, Naruto felt as though a whole inside of him had been sewn up and he was fixed- brand new. This reassurance from Hinata gave him hope that maybe the rest of his friends would accept him as well. And even though he wasn't really planning on telling them, the thought of it was heartwarming. Hinata made Naruto feel as like he was just him, nothing else; not a monster, not a boy with a killer fox locked inside of him- just Naruto. He loved the feeling.

Naruto gave Hinata a small grin, grabbing her hands and leaning closer to her. Her cheeks burned pink, and she felt as though she was melting from the heat.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan. You make me feel so much better about all of this," he told her, whispering the gentle compliment into her ears. She blushed deeper then, and not being able to find her voice, she merely nodded her answer. He almost giggled at the site, but held back, leaning closer to his friend.

"All my life I felt as though if any of my friends knew about the Kyuubi, then I wouldn't have any friends left. But then I sit here right now with you, and it's almost as though it doesn't faze you at all…" Naruto said, leaning back a little bit and cocking an eyebrow at her.

"W-well…" she started to say, wanting to look away, but she felt as if her eyes were glued to his face. "I know that you aren't the k-Kyuubi. It's in y-you, but that doesn't mean it _is _you."

He smiled at her then, the foxy grin back on his face as usual. He felt even better then before, now that she had actually said the words out loud. "You're amazing, Hinata," he said, leaning back in again. Then, to her surprise, he leaned in even closer, bringing his lips to her pale cheek and giving it a kiss.

Suddenly the world felt like a carousel, but one that was spinning out of control. All around Hinata was spinning, and soon Naruto was looking at her lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Of all things, you fainted over _that?_" he said with a chuckle, but Hinata didn't hear him; she was too busy being, well, unconscious.

- - - - - -

a/n: Yay chapter two! Please review(:


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n:** Sorry it took as long as it did! I was away form the weekend and it took me awhile to get this chapter the way I wanted. **This chapter is rated M** because of some of the scenes, but it isn't graphic enough to change the entire rating of the fic. I will do that if I have to, though. Just letting everyone know(: Also, there's a quote in here that was inspired by A Goofy Movie. If you know what it is, yay for you! It's one of my favorites(:

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What I Would Do For You

__

Crystal Blaize

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Hinata woke up in the middle of the night, her mind still fuzzy from the events that had occurred before her fainting spell. She sat up slowly, letting her eyes readjust to her surroundings; all that she saw was a burned out fire and a sleeping blonde boy with a small smile on his face. Hinata knew that he must have been having a very pleasant dream, for she hadn't seen him smile like that in a long while. It wasn't his normal cheesy grin (which was sometimes a fake smile, Hinata knew), but it was a pure genuine grin, one of pure bliss and happiness.

He mumbled something in his sleep then, causing her to jump slightly. She hadn't heard what he had said, but the noise still startled her, for everything was quiet around them. Lying back down, Hinata heard the boy sigh, mumbling something about yumminess. She giggled at that, scooting closer to him to feel Naruto's warmth. That was her excuse anyways; she was cold!

"Nata…." the blonde next to her whispered, almost as though he was moaning that word, which sounded very similar to her name. She blushed deeply at that thought, but pushed it aside, not wanting to think to deep into things.

"Oh man…" he whispered, biting his lip slightly. At this, Hinata blushed even darker then before- if that was possible- not exactly knowing what Naruto was talking about, though she did have one idea.

__

'Get your mind out of the gutter!'

she told herself, thinking that he probably wasn't even talking about her.

A few moments passed where the two ninja were surrounded by silence, though Hinata did not mind; the things Naruto was saying in his sleep only made her mind spin. She was very tired and wanted to sleep, but at the same time, she wanted to know what the blonde shinobi was dreaming.

Just as her lavender eyes began to close, she heard him mumble again. He had said, "Oh…Nata….damn it!" This time, though, Naruto was basically moaning out the words, and his hand gripped at the grass beneath him.

Hearing the words, Hinata felt lightheaded, imaging the things he could possibly be dreaming about. She sighed in bliss when she heard him say 'Nata…' again, but then only got mad at herself; this word wasn't necessarily her name, anyways.

It was silent for awhile then, so Hinata rolled onto her back to get more comfortable. She yawned slightly, closing her eyes to just rest them, knowing that she probably couldn't sleep because of the wild pictures going through her mind. What exactly was Naruto dreaming of, anyways? The purple-haired girl longed to know, and she deeply wished that he was indeed dreaming of her, for she dreamt about him all of the time. Hinata blushed as she thought about the last dream she had with him in it, where the two of them were simply kissing each other, but kissing everywhere except the mouth. It had been a very heated dream, she remembered. If only Naruto was thinking about her in that way as well; she wouldn't have to feel so embarrassed.

Then, out of nowhere, breaking Hinata out of her musings, the blonde said out loud, "Ne… how many cups of ramen does it take to get to the moon?"

Hinata started laughing out loud at that, for it was so utterly random. But, as her laughter died, she felt herself somewhat disappointed, since the dream had only been about ramen and not about what she wanted it to be. It was a typical thing, though; when it came to Naruto, Hinata was used to the obsessive ramen eating- it came above all else. At this thought, Hinata sighed, closing her eyes to let herself fall asleep. She didn't care what Naruto had to say in his dreams anymore.

- - - - - - - - - -

As soon as the sun's first rays climbed over the trees of the forest, Naruto felt his eyes drift open for the second time in the last few hours. Earlier he had awoken in the middle of a very, well…pleasant dream.

Yawning, Naruto sat up and stretched, then rubbed his blue eyes so that they could adjust to the morning light. Looking over, the blonde saw that the girl beside him was still asleep, which he was glad for. He was still a little bit disheveled from the night before and he didn't want Hinata to think anything bad.

Naruto stood, shaking his head at himself. Then he began walking towards the stream that was nearby so that he could wash up. On the way there, he began mumbling incoherent rants to himself, still groggy from sleep.

Once he reached the stream, Naruto squatted down and stared at his reflection in the crystal-clear water: he looked just about the same as yesterday, just with a few new bruises. Sighing, he cupped some water into his hands, splashing it into his face to wake himself up. The water was cool and refreshing, so he cupped more of it into his hands and took a long drink. The liquid woke up him like he had wanted it to, his eyes now wide and alert, and he was ready for the day.

Sitting down on the bank of the stream, Naruto began thinking again about his dream last night. He didn't really want to think about it, but no matter what else came to mind, the dream came right after. It was a really nice dream, too, but it scared Naruto as well; he shouldn't be having dreams like this one. But, even still, he couldn't stop thinking about it. So, his blue eyes closed as he envisioned the scenes in his mind once again, and his mouth let out a sigh; he was in pure bliss just thinking about the reverie.

In his mind he saw a girl laying on a bed, looking very innocent because of the white linen that wrapped around her petite body, only covering the parts Naruto wanted to see most. Said boy was standing next to the bed without a shirt on, looking down on the angelic figure, his hand reaching out to brush the purple hair from her eyes. Her pale fingers grabbed his when he tried to pull away, bringing him closer to her. Naruto leaned in more, their faces merely inches away from each other's. The girl closed her light colored eyes, waiting for the kiss that she would be given from the blonde next to her.

In his dream, the kiss was no regular kiss; it was one of pure passion and love. When their lips met, all things around them were lost and they could feel nothing but each other. Naruto's tanned hands cupped her cheeks and he deepened the kiss, running his tongue across her bottom lip. She gasped in surprise, which allowed him to enter. His hands slid down her body down to her hips, making her shiver slightly from the contact of his hands on parts of her bare skin. Her soft hands reached towards his body then, finding his bare, muscular chest. She slid her fingers down to the waistband of his pants, pulling slightly at them but not taking them off. The blonde got the message, though, and broke their fiery kiss, quickly taking off his pants.

Naruto moaned out loud in the reminiscing of his dream, laying down flat on his back. He bit his lip as he continued to think about how he straddled the girl, kissing all over her body, and that she moaned slightly to every touch he gave her. He felt himself feeling slightly aroused as he thought of her naked and him on top of her, giving in to every emotion their were feeling and pouring it all into their passion for one another. Her sweet whispers of his name were driving him crazy, and the real-life Naruto grabbed the grass under him again, wanting to really feel her there.

A splash of cold water on his face woke him up from his dream, and when he opened his eyes he saw the girl from his dreams standing above him, though this time she was fully clothed and looked worried.

"Naruto-kun?" she whispered, though not the sweet kind of whisper in his dream. He knew he was awake for sure now.

Sitting up quickly and covering his arousal with his hands, Naruto said, "Morning, Hinata-chan! I was just washing up, but I was so tired that I must have fallen back asleep again!" It was a lie, he knew, but he couldn't really tell her the real reason, anyways.

She nodded at him, and he was grateful for that; this was the second time he escaped from having to tell Hinata that he was having a dream about her. Last time when it happened, he woke up frightened of what he had just dreamt, for Hinata was nothing more then a friend. Then he realized that she had been watching him intently, and he knew that he sometimes talked in his sleep, so he figured he must have said something about her. At least in his dreams he called her 'Nata' because he was surrounded by so much passion that he could barely get her name out without screaming in ecstasy. But, when Naruto's eyes fully opened, Hinata was laying on her back (in his daze he felt like straddling her then, but remembered that he was awake). When he realized all of this, he quickly shut his eyes, very thankful to whatever higher power that she didn't see them open. Then he said the first thing he could think of: _How many cups of ramen does it take to get to the moon?_

It was the dumbest thing Naruto could have ever said, and he wanted to laugh along with Hinata after he had said it, but when he noticed that her laughter later turned into sad sighs, he longed to find out why the girl seemed so disappointed. It seemed impossible to Naruto that Hinata may have actually wanted the dream to be about her. Sure, he knew that she used to have a crush on him, but that was just some childish thing that was going on years ago. He didn't think she still felt that way about him, especially when he thought so low of himself anyways.

Back in the present, Naruto looked back up at Hinata, who was bent over slightly. Naruto instantly blushed; he could see a fair about of her cleavage, though she didn't notice, of course. How embarrassed she would be! So, because of that, Naruto didn't tell her, and instead allowed himself to be somewhat of a pervert at that moment. From inside him he could feel the Kyuubi stirring, and that was probably because of all of the sexual tension the beast could feel coming from Naruto.

This worried Naruto; every time the Kyuubi awakened in his cage because of some sexual reason, things usually got out of hand. Last time it happened, Naruto was only 16, when Jiraiya had insisted on taking him along to meet some girls. At the time Naruto was all for it, and Kyuubi was too; once the girls did their thing, Naruto began to get a little, well, wild. His actions had actually worried the white haired sennin to the point where he had actually asked the Hokage about it. At first she thought it was merely because of his 'raging hormones,' but when Jiraiya told her about how Naruto behaved like an animal around the girls, she found herself wondering as well. She felt determined to help Naruto with his problem; she didn't want him harassing girls of the village if it ever got to be that bad.

It seemed as though when Naruto got too 'into' things, the Kyuubi would awaken as well, for the Kyuubi loved sex a lot more then the average 16-year-old boy, being an animal and everything. When Tsunadae asked Naruto about this, the blonde merely shrugged, agreeing that he sometimes got out of hand, but he didn't exactly know why. The older blonde told Naruto that he must have had something to do with Kyuubi, but she would have to run some tests.

This was probably the most embarrassing time of Naruto's entire life, especially when Tsunadae told him that he would have to give her sperm so that she could test on that. When he hear this, he almost fainted and immediately refused, but the offer to help fix his strange behavior was far too tempting.

"You'll never keep a girlfriend if you keep acting like this, brat," she had told him, finally convincing him to just go with the flow and allow her to do the tests. He didn't want to be alone then, either, so he complied.

It turned out that she had been right in thinking that Naruto's problem had to do with Kyuubi. When the nine tailed beast was alive, it mated just as any other animal would. So, when Naruto felt any sort of urge, Kyuubi made it stronger; the fox longed to mate again. It was sort of like Naruto was going through heat every time something like that happened, and Tsunadae said it would only get worse.

To fix the problem, Tsunadae created a pill for Naruto to take whenever he felt aroused, or if he began to get too wild. After awhile, the whole ordeal had been really funny to Naruto, especially since he almost never used the pills now that he and Jiraiya weren't off together as much. But at the moment, Naruto knew he needed one of those chalky pills or he'd jump his friend right on the spot.

At that thought, Naruto was instantly mad at himself for thinking about her so dirtily. They were just friends anyways, and it wasn't like the blonde was in love with her. Didn't he just tell himself yesterday not to do that sort of thing with some random girl? Then again, Hinata wasn't just a random girl at all, she was special. Naruto knew that the girl before him was probably one of the only people that he could truly trust. But even still, the fact that he was dreaming about her still scared him a little bit, especially in the state he was in. Maybe that was all it was: The utter loneliness that the blonde was going through was just bringing him towards her because she was the only girl that was actually nice to him 100 of the time.

As he thought about this, though, Naruto didn't really believe that was true. Sure, she was always nice to him and everything, but so was the girl from the ramen shop, and that certainly didn't mean he was into her! So why was he dreaming about Hinata? Why had he let it get as far as using Kyuubi to protect her? Of course he had trusted her enough to tell her his deepest secret, but if Naruto could have it his way, he would have taken everything back so that he hadn't used Kyuubi's power at all. At least the blonde could trust her enough to know that she wouldn't tell a soul about the monster inside of him.

"Well, w-we should probably go b-back to camp," Hinata said, breaking Naruto from his thoughts.

"Okay, Hinata!" Naruto said with a little too much vigor, making his already fake-happy cry sound even more feigned. The girl gave him an odd look but didn't ask, which Naruto was grateful for. The blonde jumped up from his seat, running in front of her back to camp so that she didn't see his arousal. At least it wasn't as bad as it was before; Hinata hadn't been leaning over for the majority of the blonde's musings.

Once Naruto found his way back to their campsite, he immediately went to his backpack and sat down on the ground, covering himself with the pack as he looked for his pills. Finding them, he quietly took one out and swallowed it with a generous amount of water. The capsule worked pretty fast, and right away Naruto could feel himself calming down a bit.

"Are y-you okay, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, seeing him take the pill.

"I'm great, Hinata-chan!" he told her, standing up and slinging his backpack on his shoulders. "We should go; the quicker we get there the better!"

She just nodded and grabbed her pack as well, worrying about Naruto and how jittery he was being. Before she slung her rucksack over her shoulders, she grabbed two rice cakes.

"Here's s-some breakfast," she said, handing him one of the cakes.

Naruto unwrapped it and stuck the plastic covering in his pocket, taking a bite from the cake. "This is wonderful! You're the greatest chef ever!" Naruto said with a grin, making her blush slightly.

"Thank you," she said softly as she put her pack on.

So, with their fire put out and all of their things cleaned up, Naruto and Hinata took off again, hoping to get farther along then they had the day before.

****

- - - - - - - - - -

As the two ninja set off into the forest, Naruto let his mind drift off again. He was still so confused about his dream about Hinata that he couldn't stop thinking about why he had it. Thankfully his medicine prevented him from actually thinking about what happened in the dream, but even still, Naruto found himself very distraught. Hinata was running ahead of him at a quick pace and Naruto was lagging behind because of his thoughts. Seeing how far behind he was, the indigo-haired girl stopped, waiting for him on a distant tree branch.

Naruto, who was so lost in his thoughts, wasn't paying attention to his surroundings (of course) so he ran right into her, sending them both tumbling towards the ground. When the blonde realized this, he grabbed hold of her, making sure that he would hit the ground before she did. It wasn't a far fall, but pain still jolted through Naruto's back when they fell. He shut his eyes, grimacing from the blow. Hinata was blushing from the contact, but was unharmed. At the same time, though, she felt hurt that Naruto had taken all the pain.

He held her close as they laid on the ground, his chest heaving from getting the wind knocked out of him. Hinata's blushed deepened when she tried to get up, but couldn't because Naruto's arms were linked around her lithe form. She pushed herself up onto her forearms and waited for him to get his breath back, and all the while she was shaking from nervousness, but Naruto didn't notice. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw how deep red Hinata was, which made him chuckle slightly as he gazed into her light eyes. Their eyes locked then, and Naruto found himself blushing back at her as it suddenly dawned on him as to how close they were to each other. Before he could stop himself, the blonde raised his head towards hers, so that they were barely an inch apart from each other. At this Hinata blushed even darker, her mind not fully understanding what Naruto doing.

Then, to her dismay, Naruto let go of her and leaned back down to allow her to stand. She did just that and Naruto followed suit, looking very embarrassed.

__

'Was I seriously just about to kiss her?'

Naruto screamed in his head. _'What is going on with me today? First that dream, then this? I mean she is beautiful and everything, but I don't know if I like her like that! Just because she's pretty doesn't mean I like her, right? Then again, she is really strong, intelligent, kind, and comforting. She really is great…'_ At this thought, Naruto mentally sighed and looked over at Hinata, who looked like she was just trying to calm herself down from the fall and the almost-kiss. _'I probably just scared the shit out of her by doing that. Damn…_' He looked back down at the ground, his stomach twisting into knots. Then he thought, '_Who am I kidding anyways? Why _wouldn't

_I want to kiss her?'_

Even though the blonde had made it clear to himself that he wouldn't mind kissing her, his mind was still muddled in confusion. The whole thing was very sudden to him, since he had never before thought of Hinata in this sort of way. Well, not really anyways; there was the one other time when she made him a treat so delicious that he actually considered never eating ramen again if he could have food from Hinata. That counted, right?

But, on the other hand, Naruto did know that Hinata was one of the greatest friends he could have asked for. And, she was the only girl that was ever truly nice to him. A lot nicer then Sakura, that was for sure. He also knew that he felt a lot more calm around Hinata then he did with any other person, but was that what Naruto wanted? No, there was much more that the blonde wanted- needed, actually.

Then his mind looked back on the scenes of what happened last night when he revealed that he was the Kyuubi's container. She had taken the news so well that it had amazed Naruto, and it still awed him that she stuck by him throughout the confession. He knew that pretty much everyone else would have been much more frightened or would have ran away from him, and some reactions probably would have gotten to the point where they wouldn't want to be friends with him anymore. Naruto had thought about this before, but it never really clicked like it did now. Hinata really, really cared about him, no matter what he did or who he was. This realization made Naruto feel elated even though he didn't really know how deep her tenderness for him went. At the moment, though, Naruto didn't care; he hadn't felt sincerely cared for in a very long time.

"Sorry about that, Hinata-chan. You okay?" he asked her, a wide smile on his face.

"I'm f-fine. Are you?" she asked, looking worried still.

"I'm great! You ready to keep going, or do you want to rest?" he asked her without an ounce of fake happiness, which confused Hinata; why was he suddenly so happy? Not that she minded, of course- she hated him being sad- but it was sort of random, considering he had seemed so mopey lately.

"I'm r-ready, Naruto-kun… You didn't have t-to do that, y-you know," she said to him, blushing a bit.

"I'd do anything to protect you, Hinata-chan," Naruto answered without thinking. After he realized what he said, Naruto blushed and looked away from her. Hinata was blushing too, of course, and she smiled at him to try and make him feel better.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she whispered to him, taking a step closer. She was being very bold, she knew, but she suddenly felt a lot more confident then usual.

The blonde looked up at her to see her shy smile, his stomach fluttering slightly. She really was beautiful.

Grabbing her hand, Naruto grinned his infamous grin and said, "Let's go! Dattebayo!"

- - - - - - - - - -

**A/n:** Sorry about the not-very-eventful chapter. It was more of a transition/explanation chapter anyways. One of those "omg-do-I-like-you?!" things. Well, I think we all know the answer, but Naruto can figure it out on his own(:

Anyways, please review! Thanks XD


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n: **That took too long! I had somewhat of a writer's block ): Sorry for the wait!

--

****

What I Would Do For You

__

Crystal Blaize

--

Two ninja were seen running through the forest, silence surrounding them as they sped through the trees without speaking to each other. The stillness was a pleasure; it allowed them to think, and to prepare themselves for what awaited them outside of the forest. A few miles ahead, the girl ninja could see that the woodland was breaking, leading into a clearing. The boy beside her didn't seem to notice, for he was so lost in thought he almost tripped over another tree branch. This had already happened twice, but the girl did not try and stop his musings; she was far too shy to speak to him at the moment.

Currently she was reminiscing about the events that had occurred earlier, which brought a small smile to her face, though at the same time she couldn't help but feel disappointed. The boy had almost kissed her! And oh, she had longed for a kiss from him for a very long time now. Sighing, she told herself not to think about it; it would only make her more sad.

"Hinata? Is that a clearing ahead?" the boy said when he finally noticed, distracting Hinata for a moment.

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun," she answered.

The pair sped off toward the clearing, grateful to have a straight path ahead of them. It would be much easier to follow the dirt road then to navigate through the woods. After they reached the road, there would only be about another day's journey ahead of them, or maybe less, depending on how fast they went. Hinata was in no hurry, even though she knew her comrade probably wanted to get the mission over with. She enjoyed said person's company, even in a dangerous situation like this one.

Once they reached the path, Naruto let out a breath; being in that forest made him feel Closter phobic and he was glad that he wasn't in the enclosed space anymore. The sun was shining above the path, pebbles along the sides of the road glimmered in the light. Naruto took in another deep breath, enjoying the fresh air that surrounded them. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for their journey.

"We'll take this path for another day or so," Naruto said, smiling slightly; he always preferred having a road laid out before him, for you could never go in the wrong direction. He wouldn't have to navigate through the wood any longer.

"Y-yes," Hinata agreed. "We should eat lunch n-now, then."

So they sat on the side of the road, preparing to eat the meal that Hinata had made the day before (thank goodness she did, too; Naruto didn't even think about it). She made them sandwiches and they ate them in silence, but only after Naruto commended Hinata for her wonderful cooking skills. Said girl blushed at the compliment, her color only turning back to normal when she had finished eating her own food. Naruto had finished as well, and they were off again.

- - - - -

It had been at least six hours of walking down the seemingly never-ending path, for the sky was turning to a gentle orange as the sun set behind them. Hinata, though, was not admiring the sky; she was getting sick of this part of the journey. At least in the forest she had been able to admire Naruto without him noticing, but it was quite hard to do that out here in the open. Her feet were getting tired as well, but she didn't on plan saying anything to her comrade. She didn't mind walking along with him in silence, and was far too shy to say anything at all to him, so she kept her mouth shut.

Then the indigo-haired ninja closed her eyes, sighing slightly. Opening her orbs, she glanced up at the sky, expecting to see pretty cumulous clouds, but instead she saw a kunai rushing towards Naruto, and he didn't even notice. So she quickly pushed him out of the way a stepped back. The kunai missed them both.

"Shit!" Naruto said, frantically looking around to see where the kunai came from. Then he saw something flash behind him: another kunai.

He easily dodged it, but he was getting frustrated at this unknown attacker for not showing their face. Hinata had activated her special technique already, looking around into the trees beside the path. But her search was to no avail, making her and Naruto more frustrated.

"What the hell?" Naruto muttered. Then he saw another kunai zipping towards him, which of course he evaded without effort. This kunai, though, was different: it had an exploding tag on the end of it. Seeing this, Naruto quickly grabbed Hinata and jumped out of the way, knocking them into the ground. He tumbled on top of her, straddling her small hips between his thighs. The situation made them both blush deeply, making Naruto stumble into a standing position. He then helped up his comrade, turning around when he heard a chuckle coming from behind him.

"How adorable," said the chuckling person, who was standing at least fifteen feet behind the blonde and Hinata. He was a normal looking man, with chestnut hair and hazel eyes. He stood calm and collected with his arms crossed against his chest, as though he was daring the pair to come closer to him and try to fight back.

Naruto was getting angry already; it was annoying him how often they were getting into trouble on this mission. Maybe it was just his bad luck, but who knew.

"What the hell do you want?" Naruto growled at the pale man. Said man didn't flinch or say a word in return, which Hinata thought was odd because of what the tone of Naruto's voice had been. Naruto, being the impatient one, didn't wait for the unmoving man to answer. Instead, he ran towards him, smacking into him with all his strength. The chestnut-haired man flew backwards, only to turn into smoke a second later.

__

'I should have saw that coming,'

Naruto said, rolling his eyes. Said eyes widened afterwards, though, for the man had hit him in the back, knocking the wind out of him. The blonde fell to his knees as he gasped for air, but then he saw an amazing sight: Hinata kicked the guy's ass. Literally…

"Nice," Naruto croaked out, slowly getting up to join her. She looked very angry, which frightened Naruto a bit, but she also looked ready to fight. She didn't want any thing to go wrong in this fight.

Their opponent stood up quickly, turning around to face them, but not attacking. Instead, he brushed the dirt off of his nice clothing (Naruto still hadn't figured out why he was wearing a nice western-style suit for a fight) and straightened his tie. Clearing his throat, the man said, "My name is Nagasaki Hiro."

"I don't care what your name is," Naruto spat.

Hiro shrugged, not really caring if the blonde disliked his formalities. Then he raised his hands, bending in his fingers as if to call someone over. "Men?" he said, looking around in the trees.

Sure enough, about ten men showed up behind Hiro, all of them wearing masks. It was almost as if they were ANBU members, but the masks were all of birds. Also, each man was adorned in all black clothing, and none of their skin was visible.

Then, taking a closer look, the two Konoha ninja noticed something hanging around Hiro's neck: the medallion.

At this, Hinata gasped slightly, which Hiro thought was funny (he merely assumed that she was frightened of the men, but he was obviously wrong) and Hinata blushed at his laughter. Naruto only got more angry at this, still confused as to what was going on and angry that this man had embarrassed Hinata.

"It seems as though you two are trying to get into territory you don't belong in," Hiro said, shaking his head. "I suggest you turn around and make your way home now, or we'll have to take further action."

Naruto snorted. "You mean you'll have these ninja take further action while you stand around and watch."

Hiro shrugged again, acting indifferent to Naruto's comment. Said boy was getting more angry by the minute. Not only was he bitter that he let the seemingly weak man attack him, now he was going to use other ninja to get his way. This was getting ridiculous! Hinata, who had looked over at Naruto when he made the comment, saw that the blonde was getting angry and instantly became worried. Did this mean that the Kyuubi within the blonde was angry? Or was it just Naruto's anger that was getting the best of him? Hinata, not really understanding how the system worked, only hoped that Naruto was still the one in control.

"Phoenix?" Hiro said, sticking his hands in the pockets of his trousers.

"Yeah, Nagasaki-sama?" answered the name with the phoenix mask. The other birds looked at Hiro as well, waiting for his command.

"Whatever you do, keep these pests out of my village," Hiro told him with a smirk.

All of a sudden the bird masked men were gone, and desperately Hinata tried to find them with her Byukagan. Right away she saw them in the trees, preparing to attack. So Hinata told her blonde comrade this in a whisper, and she silently assumed that they would come out one or two at a time.

Unfortunately for Hinata, they did not come out in pairs; there were many, many more then that. Every man had at least five clones of himself, and they all began attacking Naruto and Hinata at once. With her secret technique, Hinata tried to find the real person behind the clones, but wasn't able to. She was not sure if that was because her technique wasn't allowing so, or if the controllers of the clones weren't fighting themselves. Even still, Hinata fought hard to get the pesky clones out of the way so that she and Naruto could fight the real ninja. She quickly gave up the search, though, and deactivated the Byukagan.

Naruto was getting fed up with clones, which is of course ironic, considering it was one of his favorite techniques to use on others. _'At least,' _he thought, _'I don't hide be hind my clones.'_

Right now, the blonde was being bombarded by clones of Hawk, Eagle, Pelican, and Crane. The beaks on their masks were poking at him, and he really just wanted to rip them all off, but didn't bother trying. He was fighting them off pretty well anyways, and smoke was from the disappearing clones was everywhere. Luckily he was not diverted from the fight because of the smoke, for that would be disastrous.

Hinata was not distracted by the smoke that was everywhere either. She was taking on the clones of Raven, Vulture, Egret, Phoenix, Owl, and Osprey; and she was becoming more overwhelmed by the second. It did not help that more clones decided to attack her then Naruto, especially when he had more stamina than she. But, she was trying her best, even though it didn't seem to be enough. Suddenly, she found herself being held down by Vulture and Phoenix. The other clones left and went to attack Naruto, overwhelming him slightly with the other ten or so clones.

Vulture and Phoenix pushed Hinata into the ground, using all of their strength to hold the struggling girl. Phoenix shoved her face into the dirt, laughing evilly as Vulture whistled. After the shrill noise had gone away, another Vulture and Phoenix showed up- the real ones- with needles in their hands. Looking at each other, it was decided that Vulture would be the one to finish it all with his needle, but this was to no avail; suddenly the bird masked man felt someone crashing into him, and he flew backwards. Whoever had crashed into him had slit his throat with a kunai as well, obviously not wanting to bother with the man later. In surprise, Phoenix fell back, which was a mistake on his part, for the thing that had ran into Vulture had killed the clones.

"Shit," Phoenix muttered, getting to his feet when the girl scattered to hers. Naruto and Hinata stood before the man, Naruto with a sneer across his face.

The clones that Naruto had left behind all came over then, standing behind the real Phoenix. There were only about fifteen left, but they still all looked just as menacing. Plus, the only real person standing there was Phoenix, for Vulture was dying. Then the clones attacked, leaving Phoenix there standing still, and he quickly ran to go tend to Vulture, hoping that maybe he could save his comrade. Hinata saw this, though, and went to stop him.

Phoenix felt a sudden kick in his back and he stumbled forward, the wind knocked out of him. Then there was another kick to his head and he was knocked to the ground. Looking up he saw an the indigo-haired ninja standing before him, still ready to fight with him when he got up. He smirked, catching his breath and getting to his feet, slowly but surely.

The two looked at each other in silence, pure hatred coming from Hinata's eyes, while Phoenix's were of course hidden by his mask. If we were to see his face, though, we would see a looked of anger as well, for Phoenix was catching on to something that no one else had yet.

Hinata attacked first, sending a punch into one of his chakra points, but before she could hit again he attacked her, sending her to the ground. Quickly she stood again, panting slightly. He was stronger then she thought, but that wasn't going to stop Hinata from fighting him. She quickly glanced over to wear her comrade was fighting, and at least half of the clones were already gone. Suddenly, Hinata felt very weak.

In her distractions, Phoenix attacked her, making her fall to the ground again. This time, though, the man was on top of her, his hands pinning hers down and his legs pinning her legs. She struggled, but the man did not let up. Then he moved his head down towards her ear, making her shiver at the closeness.

"It's such a shame that I'm going to have to kill a pretty girl like you," he said, chuckling. "But I'll just have to do it. You and your little friend _were _the ones that killed my sister and her husband in the woods yesterday," Phoenix whispered this with anger laced in every word. Hinata's eyes went wide, for she had no clue those two people were in any relation to Hiro and the bird masked men.

"Y-you expect me to f-feel bad about that?" she said, trying to sound more harsh, but her stutter prevented this.

Phoenix chuckled at her slightly, thinking she was only stuttering because she was afraid of him, though this was hardly the case. Hinata was not afraid of the man, for she knew that together she and Naruto could defeat him as well as all of the others. She had no doubt in this, especially knowing how strong her friend was.

The masked man got off of Hinata, jumping back a few feet and preparing to fight again. She got up as well, following suit. She activated her Byukagan again and fell into a crouch, knowing that she might have to be on the defensive right off the bat.

Phoenix did a number of hand symbols, and said, "Tornado of Fire!"

Hinata recognized the attack right away from the woman in the woods and attempted to dodge it, but was hit anyways. It burned her skin and jacket, which she was forced to take off because of the state it was now in.

The girl was becoming more angry now, and so she prepared herself to use one of her best moves to hopefully finish off the man right away. So, Hinata got into the proper stance, smirking slightly as she did so.

"Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" she yelled, and automatically a stream of chakra was emanating from her palms. Phoenix felt the blows right away and he screamed out in pain, never feeling anything that sharp hit him before.

Naruto, now finished with all the clones, looked over to Hinata then, grinning when he heard Phoenix scream. He then saw Hinata using her Sixty-four palms attack, and he knew right away that she was going to beat Phoenix right there; none of the men seemed strong enough to survive an attack like that.

Soon the attack was over, leaving Phoenix on the ground and Hinata panting like a dog, with a grin on her face nonetheless. Falling to her knees, she quickly tried to catch her breath, for she wanted to go help Naruto fight. She had no idea he was standing there, watching her. Then he came over to her, putting a hand on hers and squeezing it.

"You're amazing," he whispered before he could stop himself. Dark blushed adorned both of their faces afterwards, but neither of them said anything else. They were both far too proud of what they had accomplished.

"Bravo!" came Hiro's voice from behind them. He was clapping and laughing, as if their fight had been a wonderful show. "But now it's time for act two."

And as he said this, all of the real men- except Phoenix and Vulture, of course- came out of the trees, attacking the two at once, just as the clones had before. Hinata was sent backwards, her legs still a little weak from her last attack, and Naruto was simply knocked down in his spot. Then the blond shinobi felt someone- Osprey- holding him back, pinning him to the ground with his face in the dirt. The other men jumped over to Hinata, grabbing her, then taking her towards Hiro. She struggled as much as she could, her body still tired from her attack to Phoenix.

"And the story ends in tragedy," Hiro said, feigning sadness. "The girl is taken captive to protect ninja from stealing the sacred medallion, and the little blonde boy is stuck in the mud."

"H-how did you know?" Naruto spat out, his voice hoarse because Osprey was almost strangling him.

"Many, many men have come to the Bird Country in search for our medallion, and some of them were even stupid enough to carry their own with them. Now we have three," Hiro said, obviously proud of this. "We knew right away why two Konoha ninja would come to the Bird Country. They posses more medallions then we do, and I'm sure they want the rest. We, as protectors of our medallions, won't let that happen."

Naruto growled, getting more angry by the minute. He struggled to get free from the bird masked man, which only cause Pelican to come over and hold him down as well.

"Raven," addressed Hiro. "Knock her out, please."

Raven obeyed, grabbing a needle out of the sack on his belt. Commanding the others to hold her down completely, Raven finally managed to put the needle into her small neck, knocking her out almost instantly.

"Leave," Hiro said afterwards. "Now, it's your turn, Osprey."

Raven and the others left, leaving Hiro, Osprey, Pelican, and Naruto. Then Hiro said, "Well, I am quiet found of fights, as you could probably tell, Blondie. If you can find us, you're more then welcome to come, though I'm not promising there will be hell to pay for you. Just make sure I'm there to watch."

With this, Hiro nodded to Osprey, who had a needle identical to the one Phoenix had earlier. Then, with much difficulty because of Naruto's struggles, he pierced the needle into the blonde's neck. The cold liquid seeped into his skin, making him feel drowsy. Then, moments later, Naruto was knocked out cold, his face still in the dirt.

- - - - -

It must have only been about an hour when Hinata felt herself wake up, but now she was held in chains in a dark, dank room. Confused, she looked around the prison cell like room, not remembering right away why she was there. Then all of the images came back to her, explaining why she felt so tired, and why she was chained up to the wall. Right away she worried for Naruto, since she had been knocked out before she saw his fate.

Hinata pulled her arms, seeing how strong the chains were. Suddenly, she felt a jeering pain shoot down her arm and she cried out, shocked by the attack.

"Don't bother struggling," came the nasally voice of Hiro. "They have chakra wrapped around them, and every time you struggle against them, they will cause more pain." He chuckled at this.

"Where's Naruto?" she asked, her voice softer then usual.

"Oh, Blondie? He's off somewhere lying in the dirt, I suppose," Hiro answered, laughing again. Hinata's eyes widened in fear, for she had no idea what Hiro's answer implied.

__

'Oh, Naruto-kun,'

she thought, looking the floor.

_'Please be okay… I'll definitely be fine, and I'll find my own way out... Just please be okay.'_

- - - - -

**A/n:** Yeah… This story is going to be a lot longer then I originally intended (which was like three or four chapters). I'm thinking double. XD

Anyways, please review!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/n:** Yeah, I'm sorry that this one took so long for me to post, especially considering I had gotten the previous chapters out much quicker. I was gone on vacation and it just took me forever to finish because of that along with a hectic schedule at home. And, you know, there was the whole writer's block thing going on as well as not having much motivation. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this as soon as I can, but I can't make any promises. Thank you so much, though, for being patient! (:

Oh, I bumped up the rating to Mature due to violence, some language, and things in previous chapters. I figured I might as well play it safe.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter XD

--

**What I Would Do For You**

__

Crystal Blaize

--

Naruto woke hours later, dirt in his hair and grit in his teeth. The bright light of the morning sun made him squint, causing his vision to blur even more than before. Rolling over onto his back, the blonde slowly registered where he was. The thoughts of what had happened the day before drifted into his mind, each detail stabbing at him like a child would if they were consistently poking you. His mind was pulsing with everything that had happened, and his eyes suddenly widened, for he realized that Hinata was not there. But then he remembered: Hiro took her.

Suddenly more angry then ever, Naruto stood, no longer feeling achy or tired. Looking around, he saw no tracks from Hiro and his masked men, and therefore he could not tell what direction they had taken off in. Of course, they would have gone the same way that he and Hinata had been headed before, but from where he was, he couldn't even tell one end of the path from another. This only made him feel more angry.

"Oh, so you're awake!" came a voice from behind him, making Naruto jump slightly in shock. It was a voice of a female, gentle and soft. The first thought that came to his mind was that the voice came from Hinata. But this was not the case; the voice was a lot deeper than Hinata's.

Turning, Naruto saw that the girl had just came out from the wood carrying a pail of water. She had long, silvery hair that shimmered in the sun and deep violet eyes that contrasted against the rest of her face, for she was very pale. She was very slim and tall, like a model would be, and Naruto couldn't help but stare as she approached him.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked defensively, not wanting to be tricked by the beautiful girl.

"Call me Aya," she told him with a grin, setting the pale down by his feet. "Go ahead and have a drink."

Though he dearly wanted to, Naruto did not drink the water right away. He did not know this person well enough to know what she may have done to the water. It was a basic ninja principle not to trust people you didn't know, but at the same time, Naruto felt like his throat was going to crumble apart because it was so dry. So, throwing all instincts aside, Naruto cupped his hands and filled them with water, sipping out of them greedily.

Aya chuckled at the sight, which worried Naruto, so he quickly stopped drinking. She noticed this and merely told him that she had never seen someone so thirsty in her life before. He didn't know if he should believe her or not, so he stopped drinking the water anyways. The girl sighed, not bothering to protest, and took the bucket. He still looked upon her wearily, checking to see if she had any sort of weapon on her, which she did not. All of this was very confusing to him, and he desperately felt like running away, though he still didn't know which way to go.

"Why are you here?" Naruto managed to ask, his throat still somewhat dry.

"I was walking along to get some water. You know you're in the Bird Country, right?" she asked him.

"I am?" When did that happen?

"Yes. Even though it's pretty bare here, this land is still owned by the Bird Country. I'm guessing that's why you were attacked? Or at least, I'm assuming you were; I've never seen a ninja wanting to lay in the dirt before," Aya said with a giggle.

Naruto glared at her and said, "I was. But now I need to get into town."

"Why would you want to? You'll just get hurt again!" Aya said, seeming more amused then concerned.

"No, I won't. Just show me the way, alright?" the blonde said angrily, his hand trailing toward the pouch that held his kunai. He had to get to Hinata as soon as he could, no matter what this girl was telling him.

"Fine; it's your death bed. Let's go," she said with an eye roll.

- - - - - - - - - -

It seemed to Hinata that the day had been going on for a year, every minute ticking by like a millisecond as she sat chained against the wall. No one was ever around, leaving her alone to just sit there and stare at the wall, trying desperately to come up with ways to break out of her cell. She had already tried numerous times to break the chains, but the magic that was wrapped around them merely caused her more pain. She had attempted to use her own chakra once as well, to try and break the chains off the wall, but this did not work either; the chakra that was wrapped around the chains hit her with double the force. Hinata knew that she could have easily broken free if it hadn't been for that chakra. Eventually she quit struggling with the chains, letting herself calm down and try to think before acting.

There was a window to her left, which Hinata was more than grateful for; it gave her something to look at other then the ugly gray stone that her cell was made of. Outside of the dirty window she saw that the sun was almost at it's full peak, so she knew it was almost noon. This made her wonder what was going on with Naruto, but she did not dwell on it. Though Hinata did not always have the highest opinion of herself, she didn't want to let herself wait forever for Naruto. She had to be strong in this situation, and she had to fend for herself. This she was determined to do, no matter what it took. Right now, Hinata thought, she was completely capable of getting out of this on her own. She just had to think of a way to do it.

A sudden noise came from the front of the room, startling Hinata slightly. It was another bird masked man, Raven, bringing in what seemed like a tray of stale bread and soup. His head was still out the door, for he had been mid-conversation with another man before he walked into the room. Hinata could not hear what the man outside of the door said to him, but she did hear Raven's muffled reply. The words, "Just leave, I've got this…. Don't worry, I've got the chains covered," were heard, but Hinata did not understand what he was talking about.

Closing the door behind him, Raven began walking towards Hinata. From behind the mask, she could tell he was smirking at her state, making her feel somewhat embarrassed and very angry at the same time.

"Here you go, little missy," Raven said, pushing the tray over to her.

It was a huge mistake on his part; he was in range of Hinata's legs, which quickly wrapped around his neck and snapped it. Raven fell to the ground, dead before he even knew what happened. The whole thing was instinct on Hinata's part, and as soon as he was there laying next to her, she realized how sick it was. She didn't exactly need to kill him.

_'It will give the rest of them the message that I'm not some weak little girl,'_ Hinata thought. _'Now how am I supposed to eat this? __Maybe I should have waited to kill him…'_

- - - - - - - - - -

"How far away is it, anyways?" Naruto asked after five minutes of walking in silence with the silver-haired girl.

"Another mile or two," Aya answered.

"Why did come all the way out here to get water?" the blonde asked, still not trusting the girl.

"There's a shrine in the wood that's located just beyond where you fell. At the shrine there's a well and when I go to pray, I get water as well. I do this at least every other day so I can give respect to those in my family that have passed," she said without hesitation or stutter, making the story believable. "I saw you on the way there, but you were still knocked out cold. Honestly, I didn't really care; I have no sympathy for the kind of people that killed my family."

"You mean shinobi?" Naruto asked.

"Yes."

"That's a shame," Naruto said with a very sincere voice. He hated when things like that happened to people, especially when it changed their views on ninja for ever. Not all ninja were bad!

But, Naruto did not press the subject any further, for the girl was obviously very bitter. Even still, she said, "I'm only helping you because you seemed so desperate to get into town, as if your life depended on it."

Naruto nodded. "My friend was captured by a man named Hiro. I have to save her."

Aya made a face when Naruto mentioned Hiro, then said, "Hiro is a menace. I'm not surprised. But I'll help you, since this girl must mean a lot to you for you to be so determined."

Naruto just shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. He knew that he would be determined to save anyone, even if he didn't know them. But Aya had a point; never in his life before was he more desperate to save this girl. And he really just wanted to run into town and find her, but he knew this wasn't a possibility. He planned on having Aya show him where Hiro was located, otherwise he'd never find Hinata. Using the girl was not something that the blonde preferred to do, but it was the only way to save his friend without having to search the entire town first.

The two teens walked along the dirt road in silence then, neither of them having much more to say, though the silence was very comfortable. Aya seemed to be a very nice person, though the blonde was not going to let his guard down because of it. But, as they walked along, Naruto allowed himself to think of Hinata, though each thought led him to worry more and more about her. He, of course, did not trust Hiro and his masked men, and he could not possibly imagine what they could be doing to hurt Hinata. The mere idea of what they were capable of made a shiver roll down his spine. His stomach knotted up in his stress and he felt as thought he were about to vomit. Beside him, Aya noticed the sudden change in the blonde, making her somewhat worried for the boy she was guiding to her village. She made attempt to ask him what was wrong, though; she honestly did not care about the state of the blonde. He was in fact a ninja, anyways, and Aya hated ninja. Or, at least, that's what she told herself. Naruto really did not seem that bad to her, but she did not want to let herself actually befriend a person like Naruto.

Looking at the blonde beside her, though, Aya's mindset began to change. There was something different about this ninja for reasons Aya did not understand, but the look of pure worry for his comrade was very dissimilar from what she had experienced with other shinobi. In her past, the only kind of shinobi she had seen were vile ones, the kind who would pillage and steal without reason, or kill for the fun of it. What she did not know was that these were of course outcasts from other ninja, but Aya merely assumed all men of their kind were the same. Naruto was proving her wrong with every step he took; he was obviously in agony just thinking about his captured friend, but at the same time he was going to give his all to save her, no matter what the circumstances were.

Thinking about this, the silver-haired girl came up with a question to ask the boy beside her. So she said, "So what's this girl to you anyways? Just a comrade, or more then that?"

Naruto looked at her in confusion, but then, noticing the small smirk on her face, he understood what she meant. "We're just friends," he answered, his tone sounding somewhat annoyed by this fact, but it seemed as though the blonde didn't realize his own tone of voice.

Aya merely nodded, deciding not to bother pushing the subject; she had her own theory as to how Naruto felt about his friend. But, she wasn't going to bring that up, for she did not want to be embarrassed if proven wrong. There was something that told her that she wasn't wrong at all, and that Naruto's worry went much deeper then he was letting off. Aya, being a polite and sensible person, did not try to pry anything out of the blonde. She also knew he wouldn't tell her anything anyways; it was clear that he didn't realize how deep his own feelings went.

Naruto pondered as to why Aya was suddenly so curious about Hinata and his relationship. Did she see something that he did not? It seemed impossible, for she was a stranger who had never even met Hinata before. So what was the point of even asking- caring, for that matter. Confused, Naruto merely sighed, praying to whatever higher power that he and the violet-eyed girl arrived to their destination soon.

And, soon enough, the village could be seen right in front of him, looking ominous even in the bright sunlight. There was only a few tall buildings in the whole town, the rest of it was small food stalls and tiny shacks where Naruto could only presume people were forced to live in. The town, in general, looked like it had been swept up in the disease of poverty and it had not gotten better.

Aya walked Naruto through the gates of the town (which, oddly enough, looked nicer then some of the homes), and went straight down the path. The blonde shinobi could only assume that this was the direction towards where Hinata was, and the simple thought of it made his heart beat twice as fast as it had been. Never before in his life had he been so worried in a mission, and the worry just made him scared. The mixture of emotions then led him to confusion, and this obviously did not help Naruto at all. He was a complete mess, which Aya could see as well, and said girl became somewhat scared for him as well.

"Are you alright?" she found herself asking against her will, telling herself silently that Naruto's anxiety wasn't her problem and that she should just walk away now. But she just couldn't leave him there alone, but for reasons she could not come up with.

"I am," he answered after a few seconds. Sighing, he then asked, "Is that the place?"

He was pointing to the stone building in front of them. Aya, seeing this, nodded her head in answer. Immediately, with new courage, Naruto began to pace towards the building, preparing to save his comrade. Aya smiled at this as she followed him and she silently prayed that he was alright.

When the two reached the building, Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, the worry creeping up on him again. This feeling only made him angry this time; now was not a good moment to get scared. It was one of his best friends on the line here! And, if he lost Hinata, Naruto did not know what he would do. With that thought, all dread and worry went away and he was suddenly filled with readiness and determination again.

Naruto turned to Aya and said, "Thank you, Aya."

"You're welcome," she replied.

"I'm ready for this," he said, more to himself then to the girl beside him. "I'll do anything to save Hinata. I'm not scared anymore; I have to save her."

And with that, Naruto entered the building, leaving Aya behind.

"Good luck," she whispered.

- - - - -

The room was dark when he entered, the only light being the dim candles that adorned the stone walls. A shiver crept down Naruto's spine when the door shut behind him with a creak. Suddenly the room felt very cold. There was nobody in the lobby-like area, which Naruto found odd. So, he kept his eyes alert, just incase there was something hidden in the dimness on the room.

Taking a step forward, the blonde shinobi started to become more confident in his mission to save his friend, and all worries about not having any sort of plan were set aside. Walking deeper into the room, now reaching the middle, he saw an old door, but it did not seem as though there were any special locks on it. This seemed even more odd to Naruto, for it looked as though his new enemies were taking no precaution to his arrival. Perhaps they did not think that he would ever find his way there.

But that thought did not seem too probable; any good ninja would never have left him laying in the road so that he could merely wake up later and find his way there. So, that either meant that Hiro and his men were terribly stupid ninja, or they wanted Naruto to come to this building. Thinking that the latter was probably the right answer (though, of course, the blonde wished this was not true), Naruto pondered as to why they would make things so easy for him. What were they planning?

Not allowing to get himself too worried, Naruto continued walking towards the old door. Once reaching it, he automatically went to open it and it widened before him with a soft creaking noise, making Naruto wince. He looked around him quickly, checking for any of ninja, but still found none in the room before him. Stepping into the room that seemed even darker than the last, Naruto felt that the stone floor was very unsteady. Taking another step, it seemed as though the blonde was sinking into the floor, and when he looked down, he saw that this was in fact the case. The stone block was falling through the floor and down to a pitch black abyss, making Naruto quickly jump up from the block and touch onto another one. To his dismay, this block did the exact same thing, but much faster. Next he was falling straight through, not able to jump up in time to save himself from falling into the abyss.

He did not scream and yell as he fell into the darkness, but worry and anxiousness swept over him again. In the blackness of the air, Naruto could not even see his hand in front of his face, let a lone where the floor of this new room was… If it even was a room; Naruto felt as though he was falling into the center of the Earth, especially since it had suddenly become much warmer then it was before. Sweat beaded on his forehead and dripped down his back, the sudden heat becoming too much for him to handle.

Then, with a crash Naruto hit the ground, his back cracking from the impact. He winced in pain and shock, letting himself lay there for a moment. But he knew he had to stand and try to find his way out of this place to get to Hinata, so he stood and took off his jacket. It felt hotter than the warmest summer day in this new room.

Before the blonde could even take a step forward, the room was suddenly illuminated by what seemed like one thousand lights, blinding Naruto's blue eyes. Raising an arm up to his face, Naruto covered his eyes to allow them to adjust to the light. When those eyes had barely adjusted to the light, the owner looked out in front of him, only to see Hiro standing there with a devilish smirk on his face. The blonde shinobi growled, but inside he was glad to see the man; it meant he was closer to Hinata.

"I knew I'd see you here again, Blondie," Hiro said in an emotionless voice.

"Damn right!" Naruto yelled at him.

Hiro chuckled at Naruto's words, taking a step closer to him down a stair; he had been on some sort of platform that was led to by a small case of stairs. The light shone behind Hiro, ironically making him look like some sort of god, and this thought merely made Naruto snort. Go figure that his cocky enemy would pull off something like that just for show. But now, Hiro was at the bottom of the steps, only about one hundred feet away from the blonde.

"Did you really think you'd be able to penetrate through my walls without being harmed, Blondie? I obviously knew you'd find us; you _are _a somewhat skilled ninja after all," Hiro said with a taunting voice. Naruto growled at the word 'somewhat,' but did not interrupt Hiro as he continued saying, "You will never be able to stop my men and me, kid. The girl is mine. Unless, of course, you hand over some more medallions"

"First of all, she's not property to be owned, you idiot. And secondly, I don't have any damn medallions," Naruto said in a snarl.

Hiro chuckled, "No, I suppose she can't be considered property. That would be immoral, right? She is a good way to mess with little boys, though. And I suppose that this is all your loss then, Blondie; no medallions means no girl."

With a deep growl of anger, Naruto answered, "I never accepted that deal."

"Ah, but it seems like it would be common sense, right? Then again, I never really thought of you to be that smart anyways," Hiro said.

Naruto did not bite back this time, but he instead rolled his eyes. Then he cracked his knuckles, crouching down into a defensive position and preparing himself to fight. This only caused Hiro to chuckle once more, which made Naruto very angry.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Naruto yelled to him.

Hiro did not answer, but instead he raised his arms and then bent his forearms towards his torso. Right afterwards Owl, Eagle, and Osprey showed up, jumping right in front of Hiro as a shield. Naruto wanted to roll his eyes at this, but found that he did not have enough time; Pelican was right behind him and attacked him in the back. Naruto was sent flying forward, his back hitting the ground first, causing him to roll before he could stop. The attack was surprising to say the least, but the blonde shinobi did not let that stop him from fighting back. Quickly he got up and faced Pelican, but while keeping the other men in his vision as well.

Pelican gave a short chuckle, and behind his mask a smirk formed upon his pale face. But, Naruto didn't care how excited his new foe was; he just wanted to fight him and get to Hinata. She was the only thing that was on his mind now, the only thing that kept him driven to fight. Her indigo hair and lilac eyes, her pale and smooth skin, and that sweet blush she gave when he said something nice to her. These were only a few of the many things he cherished about the girl, and he did not want to loose her. She was his best friend, a great ninja, and probably the most beautiful girl he knew. He could not loose her.

The blonde ran forward then, attacking Pelican in the stomach with full force. Said bird felt back for a moment, but then he punched Naruto as well, right in the jaw. Blood flew from the boy's mouth, but he ignored it.

The fist fight continued then, Naruto dodging the majority of the punches, and Pelican not being as lucky. With so much force being put into each punch, it was merely impossible for the masked man to evade the younger ninja's attacks. Soon enough, the blonde had the other thrown to the ground, his neck snapped, dead.

"This is going to be easier than I thought," Naruto said in a quiet voice, not loud enough for the others in the room to hear.

Without warning, the other three bird men came running towards Naruto from where they were standing in front of Hiro. Except now, Hiro wasn't there. The blonde could only assume that the man had run off while he was fighting Pelican. This made him angry to say the least, but he could not focus on it too much, for he had three new enemies to face.

The trio- Owl, Eagle, and Osprey- ran around Naruto, creating what seemed like a whirlwind of their silhouettes, making it almost impossible for Naruto to tell where the real man was standing. Easy body because a huge blur as they circled around him, faster and faster as they went along. It seemed as though they were all over the place when they were actually right behind him or next to him, but with their speed and agility, Naruto had trouble telling. Then, letting his mind focus, he let his eyes dance along with the men, trying to find the real one.

Naruto was not having luck; the figures were moving far to fast for his eyes to follow along. He was becoming more and more angry with this, especially when he was suddenly attacked by one of the men, but he could not tell who it was. The punch had hit him hard in the stomach and he crouched down to catch his breath, anger and hatred filling his being. He was sick and tired of these men using cowardly techniques to trick him. So, not bothering to try and find the men any longer, Naruto took himself into the air and kicked around in a circle, hitting one man square in the jaw. Quickly the blonde jumped to kick again, but was caught by the ankle and flung across the room. He hit the wall with a loud bang, but the impact did not damage him too much.

In front of him the whirlwind had stopped and there stood the three masked men, Owl with blood dripping down his neck from where Naruto had hit him in the jaw. The blonde smirked at this, standing to begin the fight again.

Then Osprey spoke up, his voice high pitched and whiny. "You should just give up, brat."

Naruto just snorted in response. There was no way he was going to just give up and walk away.

Osprey shrugged. "You're loss, kid," he said, taking a step closer to the blonde.

Without warning, Naruto jumped into the air, his hands forming different seals as he drifted towards the rock ceiling. Hundreds of clones appeared around him then, all of them flying to the ground towards the bird men at once. The real Naruto was mixed in between all of them, and none of the masked men could tell which one he was. Instead they attacked the clones without much thought, sending them all to puffs of smoke. The clones attacked in all directions, and soon the men were overwhelmed by the amount of the copies of Naruto. Eagle was overtaken by them and found himself falling onto his back, the clones piling on top of him, practically suffocating him. Owl and Osprey on the other hand fought much harder, killing off man of the clones. What they did not notice was the three blondes behind them, forming a completely new technique.

Soon almost all of the clones were gone from attacking Owl and Osprey, and now the two men were working on clearing off the blondes from off of their comrade, Eagle. The man was laying flat on the ground, his face purple from the lack of air. He was gasping his last breaths, but luckily for him, Owl grabbed him up before more clones could try and strangle the man. Osprey killed the last five or so in merely seconds.

This left the three men confused, since the real Naruto was not around. But, turning around, they finally saw him, along with two other clones. A large, blue ball was forming in the boy's hand, the clones working at making it bigger every second. Naruto was pouring almost all of his chakra into the ball, making it bigger than he ever had before. Then, when he felt he could push out no more, he raised his fist and charged.

"RASENGAN!" he yelled, forcing the massive amount of energy into the men before they could do anything about it. They fell back onto the ground, Eagle dead right away since he had already been so weak. The blow had hit Owl right in the stomach, causing him to die as well, just a little bit more slowly. But then there was Osprey, who was not hurt as much by the blow. When said man stood, though, his right arm hung limp at his side, the flesh almost completely wiped off. Naruto's eyes widened then, for he thought that the man should have been killed.

"You filthy little brat," his enemy spat at him, panting out every word. Naruto had to smirk at this, since he knew that the attack had taken the man by surprise. He was much more powerful then he looked.

Osprey flew at Naruto, his limp arm flowing behind him. Naruto jumped back to dodge the man but he was too quick; suddenly he was behind Naruto and punched him in the back, flinging him up towards the ceiling. Then the man was above him, kicking his stomach with full force. The move reminded Naruto of something that Sasuke would have done, and that gave him an idea.

While the blonde was falling back towards the ground, Osprey waited for him, ready to punch him again. But, when he finally got the chance to attack, he found himself only punching a log. The real Naruto then came up from behind him, kicking him in the knees and making the man fall to a kneel. Then Naruto kicked his head and Osprey hit the ground, his face in the dirt. The man was breathing quickly and his arm was gushing blood. Naruto then realized that his Rasengan technique must have his Osprey in the side as well, for blood cover the whole right side of his shirt.

"Where is Hinata?" Naruto asked, crouching down to where Osprey lay.

In answer the masked man shook his head, telling Naruto that he either did not know or was not going to tell him. So, the blonde flipped the man around with his foot, standing over him now and looking at him straight in the eye.

"I asked you a question," Naruto said, anger laced in each word. "Now answer."

Osprey made no effort to answer Naruto's question about Hinata's whereabouts. Instead the man tried to sit up so that he could fight the blonde again. When said blonde saw his attempt, he kicked the man right back down, but this time he straddled him, putting one hand on his shoulder and the other around his neck.

With a snarl Naruto then said, "Where is she?" Then, he took Osprey's head by the neck and slammed it down into the ground. "Tell me now."

When he did not answer again, Naruto tightened his grip on the man's throat and said, "Tell me now or I'll kill you. If you help me out, maybe I'll let you live."

"S-she…" Osprey croaked out, not having enough breath left to speak. Naruto loosened his grip slightly to let the man talk. Then Osprey continued with a cackle, "She's probably dead by now."

Naruto, knowing that the man was not going to help him at all, took him by the throat and finished him off. He did not want to listen to his crap anyways.

"Fuck you," he said in a bitter voice, standing up and looking down upon the dead man.

Naruto then turned and walked to where he had seen Hiro standing before, not really knowing where else to try and look. Already beginning to gain some of his strength back he hopped up the stairs and stopped at the platform. Behind it lay another case of stairs, almost completely hidden in the darkness of the room. So, without hesitation, the blonde walked towards the stairs, not even bothering to clean up the mess he left behind him.

- - - - -

Hinata sighed, looking down at the man at her feet. She probably shouldn't have killed him like that, but at least she would have to hear his annoying comments anymore. Besides, she wasn't some weak girl that he could take advantage of.

With Raven dead, no one had come up to check on Hinata for a few hours; it seemed as though everyone believed Raven was taking care of it. It was dumb of them, really, to not check up on the man after the hours had passed. But the indigo-haired girl did not complain; she knew that she was lucky for this.

Silence was the only comfort to Hinata now as she closed her eyes to think. There had to be a way to break free from the chamber, even if the chains were laced with chakra. Opening her light colored eyes, she pulled at the chains, only to feel a small shock run down her arms. This bolt of pain did not compare to the ones she had felt before when she first got here. Did that mean that the chains were weakening?

Then Hinata remembered something: Raven had mentioned the chains before he walked into the room to give her the soup and bread. He had said that he had the chains under control. But what exactly did he even mean by that? Hinata mused this, closing her eyes again to focus. Was it Raven's chakra in the chains? It seemed possible; now that he was dead, the chakra that had been there was basically gone now. The only thing Hinata had to do was wait a little longer and all of the chakra would be gone. That is, if her theory was correct.

She dearly hoped that she was right, for she longed to find Naruto and escape from the hellhole she was in. Thinking of Naruto made her feel suddenly at ease. Just the thought of his blonde hair and blue eyes made Hinata smile, and the way he was always so kind to her made her giggle slightly. But then she wondered where the boy could be, and worry swept through her like a tornado. Her eyes opened wide as the worst sort of ideas came to her mind. What if he was dead? Or, what if he was still laying in the dirt somewhere, knocked out cold?

This, to Hinata, did not seem too plausible. Naruto was a driven and powerful ninja. There was no way he could have been stopped so easily. Hinata knew that she could not be weak either, for just incase her assumptions were wrong, she could not wait for her friend to come and save her.

The vision of Naruto coming in to save her came into Hinata's mind now. She could just picture it: Naruto shining in all his glory, coming in and sweeping her off her feet so they could leave unscathed. But the idea of it all was just silly. For one, there was no way Naruto would just leave without getting what he came for: the medallion. It _had_ been their mission, after all. Secondly, Hinata was not the type of girl that would allow herself to become the damsel in distress. She was strong- Naruto even said so. She had to admit, though, it was a sweet thought.

Hinata, not wanting to waste too much time, attempted to stand, sliding her back against the wall for balance. Her legs and feet tingled from falling asleep, but she managed to stay steady anyways. Looking up at the top of the chain, she tried pulling at them again, barely feeling anything thrown back at her. Satisfied, she steadied her own hand up against the wall where the chain was hooked. Then, she sent out a burst of chakra from her palm, shattering the chain and the stone around it. She then followed suit with her other hand.

Now that the chains were free from the wall she could move around. Hoping that there would be some sort of key outside of the room, she walked towards the door, stepping over Raven's body on the way. The door was unlocked still, since Raven kept it that way from when he attempted to give Hinata food. Outside of the room no one was to be found, and the only thing in the small hallway was a table. Nothing sat on top of the table, but Hinata went over to it anyways. She started opening every drawer, in search of any sort of key. Finally, in the very bottom drawer she found a key, but to her dismay it did not fit to the cuffs on the chains. It must have been to the door.

Instead of trying to look for another key, Hinata decided to create her own. With her index finger, she pointed at her right cuff, making a small line of chakra emit from the tip of her finger. It was like her own mini-saw, and it sliced through the metal without trouble. So then she did the same with her other arm. Finally, she was free.

Worry still sat at the bottom of Hinata's stomach, and for two reasons. One, she wondered why it had been so easy for her to escape. But, then again, Raven had told whatever comrade that he could handle Hinata alone, so technically it was all his fault she escaped without trouble. Even still, she couldn't help but wonder if something else was going on. The second thing that worried her was, of course, Naruto. There was no way of knowing where the blonde boy way or what he was doing and the thought made her feel queasy.

But, now free, Hinata could not allow herself to just stand there and wait for the boy. She was going to go find him herself.

Standing up straight, and with a sudden new burst of determination, the Hyuuga girl left the hallway, ready for whatever there was to come.

- - - - - - - -

a/n: I'm sorry it's short too… I went through extreme anti-motivation and writer's block at the same time. It was awful. lol

I'll try and get the next one out ASAP!


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